Financial inclusion is on the developmental agenda in Egypt, and fintech startups in Egypt are one of the key driving forces to achieve this kind of adoption.

Digital payments is expected to be the most benefited vertical within the fintech segment, and is forecast to reach US$19.4 billion by 2025. Neobanking and digital investments are further behind, but still in the billion-dollar territory.

There are a handful of encouraging from the regulatory perspective that fintech startups in Egypt can also look forward to. For instance, a new law was introduced in March this year to allow the country’s central bank to hand out banking licences to fintech firms. The move was expected to encourage fintech investments in the country.

In this context, a number of fintech startups in Egypt have been raising funding, an encouraging trend for the sector in the country. These rounds are largely seen by local players as an encouraging sign of current and future growth prospects for fintech in Egypt, playing a “complementary” role to the traditional financial system.

Here are fintech startups in Egypt that investors placed their bets on.

(Total funding amounts may vary from actual figures and should be considered as approximations. Some data sourced from Crunchbase.)

Top funded fintech startups in Egypt

dopay

Industry: Financial inclusion services
Headquarters: London, UK
Total funding: US$22.5 million

dopay allows companies to pay their employees and other workers electronically. Companies can open dopay accounts (which come with prepaid cards) for those on their payroll, helping streamline employee and worker payments digitally.

The startup raised US$18 million in a Series A in September this year. It has also previously raised a total of about US$4.5 million across three seed funding rounds.

Paymob

Industry: Payments
Headquarters: Cairo, Egypt
Total funding: US$18.5 million

SME payments platform Paymob provides a range of payment solutions and APIs. Its product suite includes online payments, digital wallets, mass payouts, subscriptions, and POS solutions, amongst others.

The company raised US$18.5 million across two Series A tranches, one of which was completed more recently in April this year. It has also previously raised an undisclosed venture round from A15.

MoneyFellows

Industry: Group lending and savings
Headquarters: Cairo, Egypt
Total funding: US$9.5 million

MoneyFellows’ solution helps to digitise local traditional savings circles known as “gameeya.” Users can access group credit and savings solutions through the company’s collaborative money management and lending platform .

Last year, the company raised US$4 million in a Series A round, topping up previous smaller seed rounds and a debt facility of US$1 million as well.

Fintech startups in Egypt that raised US$1+ million

Telda

Industry: Digital banking
Headquarters: Cairo, Egypt
Total funding: US$5 million

Telda is a digital banking startup that offers free accounts opened entirely online, and that come with a Mastercard-powered card, and instant P2P transfers. The company’s solution is targeted at millennials and Gen Z.

Telda raised US$5 million this year in a pre-seed round just a month after launching. The round was led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Global Founders Capital and Class 5 Global.

Dayra

Industry: Financial inclusion services
Headquarters: Cairo, Egypt
Total funding: US$3 million

Dayra provides virtual accounts, prepaid cards and micro loans, as well as bill payment functionalities, through both an app solution and a plug and play API integration.

The startup raised US$3 million this year in a pre-seed round that was split between equity and debt.

NowPay

Industry: Salary advance
Headquarters: Cairo, Egypt
Total funding: US$2.8 million

NowPay is a salary advance solution that allows corporate employees to get their salaries in advance any time during the month. Corporates will then deduct the borrowed amount from monthly pay checks and pay it back to NowPay.

The company has raised a total of US$2.8 million across two seed rounds in 2019 and 2020, as well as a pre-Series A round this year.

Kashat

Industry: Lending
Headquarters: Cairo, Egypt
Total funding: US$1.8 million

Kashat provides micro loan solutions for businesses in Egypt. Its mobile platform provides short term micro loans from EGP 100 up to EGP 1500, with a repayment tenure of up to 61 days.

The company raised US$1.75 million in a bridge funding round this year, after it closed an undisclosed amount of funding from Cairo Angels post its launch in February.

Cassbana

Industry: Financial inclusion services
Headquarters: Cairo, Egypt
Total funding: US$1 million

Cassbana uses technology to provide credit scores and build financial identities for users. It utilises a combination of short instant loans, user behavioural data, and machine learning to assign credit scores through its data-based financial advisory solution.

The company raised US$1 million in a seed funding round just this year.