EGYPT – Egyptian fintech startup MoneyHash has announced a US$3 million pre-seed funding round as it emerges from beta to facilitate revenue and payment operations across the Middle East and Africa.
The round was led by UAE-based venture capital firm COTU Ventures, with the participation of MENA fintech fund VentureSouq and European fund VentureFriends, among others.
The funding comes as MoneyHash emerges from beta to launch its platform across the MEA region.
MoneyHash empowers businesses in emerging markets to streamline their payment stack and optimize pay-in/pay-out operations without breaking the bank.
Early-stage companies often start with one or two providers for payment processing and pay-out, but as they grow they have to tack on provider after provider to meet their growing needs.
The company has been in beta since early 2021, with 17 companies using their sandbox environment to test integration and tools.
The team has conducted extensive user research with over 150 companies, engaged multiple providers across the region, and built a comprehensive suite of tools.
With one connection point, MoneyHash users can connect with services across the revenue stack, from pay-in/pay-out providers across MEA to value-added service providers such as KYC, fraud detection, and loyalty programs.
In addition to the Super-API, MoneyHash offers customizable services for a variety of businesses.
Fawry Microfinance hits EGP 1 Billion (US$63.5M)
Meanwhile, Egyptian microfinance Fawry has surpassed the EGP 1 billion (US$63.5 million) mark of its total disbursal loans since inception.
The company provides small entrepreneurs and businesses throughout Egypt with financial solutions that combine accessibility and affordability, using an end-to-end digital infrastructure to disburse loans and collect payments.
The Microfinance held an outstanding portfolio of EGP 437 million (US$22 million) as of 31 December 2021, up by 67% year-on-year from the EGP 267 million (16.9 million) booked at the close of 2020.
These operations illustrate Fawry’s commitment to the principle of sustainability and to achieving the national objective of financial inclusion, with over 40% of Fawry Microfinance’s clients are under the age of 30.
As of year-end 2021, most of Fawry Microfinance’s 33 thousand clients were engaged in retail trade, with some clients active in simple service provision.
Nearly 60% of clients were existing Fawry clients previously integrated into the Company’s merchant network through Fawry POS machines.
Membership in the Fawry network allows the Company to easily provide these clients with a host of services, from enablement of omnichannel acceptance to the creation of e-commerce platforms.
Liked this article? Subscribe to DealStreet Africa News, our regular email newsletter with the latest news, deals, and insights from Africa’s business, economy, and more. SUBSCRIBE
