Coffee with Ahmed Gaballah, founder and CEO of Sokna: When Ahmed Gaballah left Silicon Valley to build Egypt’s first funeral services startup, many couldn’t quite wrap their heads around what the former Google and Facebook guy was thinking, especially at a time when tech startups in Egypt were taking off. Seven years on, Sokna has become part of what happens instinctively when loss strikes — operating across the country, partnering with hospitals, embassies, and syndicates, and quietly applying data and technology to one of the most traditional sectors in the world. We sat with Gaballah to talk about Sokna’s upcoming cemetery project, the technology push planned for 2026, and how the company is preparing for global expansion.

EnterpriseAM: When we first met in 2021, people used to call you the crazy guy who left Silicon Valley to become an undertaker in Egypt. Do they still see you that way?

Ahmed Gaballah: Today it’s very different. When a funeral happens, people say, “How did you not call Sokna?” It’s become part of what people instinctively do when death occurs. Growth came from people seeing the team on the ground and valuing the service. About three years ago, we hit a tipping point — awareness snowballed and growth became organic. That’s net promoter score in action. Traditional marketing doesn’t work in a space this sensitive.

EnterpriseAM: Let’s go back to the beginning. You started around seven years ago?

Gaballah: March 2019 exactly. We were three people and handled 19 funerals that year. I was the funeral director; the other two focused on research. We worked in Egypt, then traveled to seven countries — Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and others — to study how funerals operate. We attended funerals, ran surveys, spoke to families, and shadowed undertakers. By the end of 2019, we had built a 14-step professional funeral process. In January 2020, we hired our first team — six people — and officially launched Sokna.

EnterpriseAM: Did you start with friends and family?

Gaballah: Of course not. You can’t ask friends to call you when someone dies. We tried everything. We spoke to doormen in Zamalek, handed out cards — it didn’t work. Condolence halls were too late. Health offices didn’t work.

Eventually, we realized hospitals were the real entry point. So we went to hospitals and spoke to security. 99% rejected us. Three kids with notebooks — one just back from the US — saying we’d organize funerals. Until one person gave us a chance and made a call. That was our first case. We were working out of my house. When the call came, we rushed — the fastest drive of my life.

EnterpriseAM: Coming from Silicon Valley, you chose a business that isn’t inherently tech-driven. How does it scale?

Gaballah: In the beginning I was thinking of making the classic mistake: app first. After coordinating the first 19 funerals myself, I realized people in grief will not download an app. You can’t build technology for its own sake and force it onto people.

At Sokna, technology works in the background — dispatching, prediction, data tracking, decision-making. Internally, it’s everywhere. Externally, the only question is what genuinely helps the customer.

This year, we’ll launch technology-driven products that make the experience easier and allow us to scale beyond Egypt. Death is universal. The challenge is finding where technology is relevant across cultures without physical presence, we believe that can be built from Egypt.

EnterpriseAM: Did demand ever exceed your capacity?

Gaballah: Always, even now. The difference is how we manage it. At the core is a supply–demand equation. We know our historical data precisely — how many services we delivered and how organic growth evolves.

We also model future demand. When we enter a partnership, we study historical death rates at that hospital. Geographically, it’s the same logic. If we expand into a new area, we can predict demand using seven years of data — population size, hospitals, death rates.

The models tell us when to hire. If the signal is 100 people, we hire 100 — not 200. Demand here is inelastic, so efficiency matters. If we expect 100 cases and get 110, we activate trained on-call teams. They handle low-risk tasks, like permits, while the funeral director retains ownership. When that contingency pool gets used frequently, that’s the signal to hire full-time staff.

EnterpriseAM: Have you become profitable?

Gaballah: We’ve been profitable for years now. From 2019 to 2021, I self-funded the company. I was working in Silicon Valley and wasn’t worried about money. When we made a fund round in 2022, capital wasn’t the goal. I wanted two things: external validation from strategic investors who understand execution, and if we later enter cemeteries, I want real estate investors who can help execute.

I initially wanted to raise USD 300k. Demand reached USD 1.5 mn. The entire raise took 10 days. I ran it on a strict schedule: 20-minute pitch, four to five days of due diligence, a hard deadline, and one week to sign and fund.

We brought in top US and regional VCs, including Mentors Fund, ACE & Company, KV Ventures — plus long-term real estate figures, and top technology leaders who led design across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

EnterpriseAM: You operate across all governorates. Is Egypt really multicultural when it comes to funeral rituals?

Gaballah: Extremely. This space is hyper-local — between governorates, neighborhoods, even families. We initially thought we could standardize the service. That was wrong.

People experience death very differently. Some want speed, others wait for family. Some want precise rituals; others want minimal intervention. The bigger difference is emotional response — anger, denial, confusion, peace. The challenge is understanding what someone needs, often without them saying it, and very quickly. This isn’t a product problem. It’s a human one.

Globally, three variables define every market: religion, culture, and legal framework. Markets differ sharply, but there are proxy markets with shared traits.

EnterpriseAM: Does this feed into global expansion?

Gaballah: Yes, and even to operate properly in Egypt we had to understand this deeply. It’s one of the most fascinating research areas I’ve worked on — the intersection of religion, culture, and death.

From the start, Sokna has attended the world’s largest funeral directors’ gathering — the NFDA conference in the US. Every time we go, major global players approach us. They follow our work and are impressed by our data-driven model and clear technology roadmap.

Technology has barely entered this space — even in the US. These multi-bn companies remain highly traditional. That’s the opportunity: to enter, reshape the sector, and get incumbents to adopt what we’re building by proving that our technology delivers real value.

EnterpriseAM: But no one has come with a direct deal.

Gaballah: No, and we don’t want that. We want to grow globally.

** Want more? Part two of our conversation with Gaballah will be published in tomorrow’s issue of EnterpriseAM — stay tuned.

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