Egyptian fintech company Money Fellows raises $31m in series B funding
Money Fellows, an Egyptian fintech platform, announced the first close of its series B round with a $31 million investment led by CommerzVentures, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), and Arzan Venture Capital. Invenfin, National Investment Company (NIC) and existing investors such as Partech, Sawari Ventures, 4DX and P1Ventures also participated in the round.
Money Fellows is a mobile-based platform that digitises money circles or rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) that are widely known as “gameya” in Egypt and other Arab countries. Money fellows is the first to offer next-generation digital ROSCAs globally. Users can effectively manage and plan their financial obligations and achieve their financial goals through the platform. Money Fellows offers a secure and convenient alternative to traditional finance that is more social, culturally favourable, affordable, and incentivising.
The round will allow Money Fellows to accelerate its exponential growth by diversifying its portfolio of services and expanding its product offerings across the B2C and B2B segments, as well as its geographical expansion across Africa and Asia. The market is largely untapped and ripe for disruption with 2.4 billion people globally, using money circles through traditional channels.
Hangwi Muambadzi, venture partner at CommerzVentures said, “Money Fellows is already a standout national success story, and we are incredibly excited to partner with the company as they begin the next phase in their growth journey. Ahmed and his stellar team have delivered a transformative solution that will continue to enable millions to achieve their financial goals. Rotating savings and credit associations have been deeply embedded in emerging markets across the world for centuries. It is brilliant to see this new digital ROSCA-driven model emerge from Africa, creating a trusted model of delivering financial solutions and setting a new standard for using localised solutions to solve global opportunities.”
Stuart Gast, Invenfin CEO said, “Digitising widely used and culturally familiar money circles will be a key driver for achieving greater financial inclusion, not only in Egypt but in other emerging markets too. Invenfin is proud to partner with the Money Fellows team and co-investors in delivering transformative solutions in these key and fast-growing markets.”
Laith Zraikat, partner at Arzan Venture Capital commented, “This is the second investment of our new Arzan VC Fund III and our largest ticket to date. Money Fellows embodies the kind of teams, ideas and products that we love to support; strong teams working on big ideas that change lives across the world. The innovation and uniqueness of the technology developed by the team has resulted in a highly scalable and frictionless experience for its users who traditionally opted out of the ROSCA model due to the many barriers and risks involved. We are excited to be working with Ahmed, the team and our co-investors to make this dream a reality and bring Money Fellows to the rest of the world.”