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The fund is backed by some of the largest family offices and business leaders from Egypt and the MENA region​.​The strategy is the first of its kind in Egypt, utilizing local know-how and private capital to support & build solid foundations for its portfolio.FV has Lead and Co-Lead four highly sought after deals during its initial deployment, investing in two Fintech companies, Capiter & Nowpay, one in consumer internet/entertainment, Minly, and one in logistics (operating in stealth).

For the first time in Egypt, MasterCard Worldwide has teamed up with Fawry, the nationwide Electronic Bill Payment and Presentment (EBPP) network, to launch MasterCard Bill Pay services to enable MasterCard cardholders to use their cards for bill payments and mobile top-up via Fawry’s retail network. MasterCard cardholders can now settle their Internet, mobile and fixed line bills and also utilize the top-up payment services through Fawry-MasterCard enabled retail locations across Egypt.

For the first time in Egypt, MasterCard Worldwide has teamed up with Fawry, the nationwide Electronic Bill Payment and Presentment (EBPP) network, to launch MasterCard Bill Pay services to enable MasterCard cardholders to use their cards for bill payments and mobile top-up via Fawry’s retail network. MasterCard cardholders can now settle their Internet, mobile and fixed line bills and also utilize the top-up payment services through Fawry-MasterCard enabled retail locations across Egypt.

For the first time in Egypt, MasterCard Worldwide has teamed up with Fawry, the nationwide Electronic Bill Payment and Presentment (EBPP) network, to launch MasterCard Bill Pay services to enable MasterCard cardholders to use their cards for bill payments and mobile top-up via Fawry’s retail network. MasterCard cardholders can now settle their Internet, mobile and fixed line bills and also utilize the top-up payment services through Fawry-MasterCard enabled retail locations across Egypt.

An Egyptian digital payments firm has quadrupled in value during the pandemic, helped by a government push to reduce citizens’ heavy reliance on cash. Investors and analysts are split on whether the stock rally has further legs.

A 300% rally from a mid-March low has boosted its market value to 20 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.3 billion). That puts Fawry among the country’s 10 most valuable companies alongside firms such as Telecom Egypt Co. and Elswedy Electric Co., which generate many times more revenue and profit.

This innovation not only simplifies consumers’ lives, but allows more merchants to become a part of the electronic payments cycle, giving them the opportunity to safely conduct transactions and appeal to consumers who prefer not using cash. We have seen significant growth rates, and have managed to reach up to 1 million transactions per da

When we founded Fawry, an electronic bill payment and presentment company, we were very aware of the gap between card usage and the limited acceptance points in Egypt. Our aim was to extend acceptance channels beyond the traditional card acceptance points to make life easier for consumers in Egypt.

Fawry’s service is playing a key role in revolutionizing the payment industry in Egypt, a country where only 10% of the population of 85 million people has access to formal banking services.

our solution is based on high technology and based on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) standard. We are highly available and our system is scalable as it can carry huge numbers of transactions. We are now certifying for the Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) for security development and we’re following the standards of the Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX), ISO27001 and other different standards related to technology and security. Our solution is based on applying the latest technology, following the latest standards and being reliable. Moreover we allow easy access through more channels than competition to satisfy our customers’ needs. Also we’re covering more sectors and providing more services than our rivals.

Fawry is an Egyptian company that started in 2009 with the purpose of offering electronic payment services through several payment channels. The service started at banks and a big network of outlets all over the republic as well as Egypt post.

Fawry is an Egyptian company that started in 2009 with the purpose of offering electronic payment services through several payment channels. The service started at banks and a big network of outlets all over the republic as well as Egypt post.1 Now we are covering about 60 types of bills, where we cover the telecommunications sector and lately we covered all electrical companies in the country and some water companies. We also offer our services at universities and syndicates. Adding to that, users can now buy their airline tickets through us.

Fawry is yet to announce the results for fourth quarter of 2020 but for the first nine months of last year, the company made about $57 million (EGP 892.7 million) in revenue, an 45.2 percent increase year-on-year basis. For the same period, it doubled its net profit (on a YoY basis) to $7.5 million (EGP 119 million). The company has been witnessing decent growth over the last few years but it seems that Covid-19 has accelerated it even further.

For years, Egyptian companies have been paying salaries in cash, and people have been saving money outside banks.  Only 10 percent of Egyptians have bank accounts, according to Payfort’s State of Payments in the Arab World 2014 report. Over the previous decade, the electronic payment market has been penetrated by two firms: state-owned e-Finance, which handles electronic payments from and to the government through banking channels, and private-sector Fawry, which was launched in 2008 to provide payment solutions through ATM machines, mobile wallets, and retail points. Chief technology officer of Fawry, Mostafa Elnahhas, told Wamda that his company succeeded in spreading 65,000 collection points in 300 cities for banked customers in Egypt. However, the electronic payment is still small-sized due to the large amount of unbanked customers and the low credit card penetration.

Regulations are, however, crippling entrepreneurs. Mourad Alashry, CEO of PayMe, launched his startup in August 2016. It  allows companies and businesses to collect electronic payment without signing contracts with banks or paying extra fees.  The startup offers a simple payment tool for companies to allow them to set up an account and have customers send money through it. PayMe app was forced by Egypt’s fiscal regulator to stop operating for four months to abide by regulations. (Photo via PayMe) However, shortly after its launch, the Central Bank of Egypt, the state regulator, suspended Payme’s operations as a payment firm as it wasn’t cooperating with a bank. The firm had to abide by this regulation until it followed the requirements and collaborated with state-owned bank the National Bank of Egypt, then resumed its business in January 2017.  

Regulations are, however, crippling entrepreneurs. Mourad Alashry, CEO of PayMe, launched his startup in August 2016. It  allows companies and businesses to collect electronic payment without signing contracts with banks or paying extra fees.  The startup offers a simple payment tool for companies to allow them to set up an account and have customers send money through it.

Thndr, an Egypt-based startup has announced that it has received the first new brokerage license in the country in over a decade. Thndr recently acquired the necessary licensing from the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA). 

Ahmad Hammouda, Co-Founder and CEO at Thndr said Egypt is expected to be the 7th largest economy by 2030 and has more than 100 million people, most of which are young and are looking for a convenient and digital way to invest their money. “That’s why we are excited to bring a new breed of young investors to the market” he added.

Thndr, a YCombinator backed investment platform, makes it easy to invest in stocks, bonds, and funds completely commission free. Thndr aims at solving Egypt and the region’s painful, outdated and time consuming process to open, fund and actively manage investment accounts. Thndr’s first product is a mobile first equities trading platform in Egypt. The startup just acquired the necessary licensing from the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) making the fast growing startup the first company to acquire a brokerage license in Egypt since 2008. Issuing a license to a tech company is a testament to the regulator’s strong commitment to seek modern methodologies to enhance the investment landscape in Egypt.

Thndr pre-seed funding involved an array of distinct investors such as Y-Combinator, 4DX Ventures, Endure Capital, The Raba Partnership, MSA Capital, along with some other notable investors that include Tom Stafford, Managing Partner, DST “Savings and investing is a critical part of building wealth and economic development, and Egypt’s youth needs a mobile first platform like Thndr to open the floodgates of investing in the coming decades.

Helios completed the acquisition of a 76% stake in TPAY, a fast growing direct carrier billing provider in the Middle East and North Africa from A15, a leading tech investment fund based in Egypt. With offices in Cairo and the UAE, TPAY currently operates across 16 countries with almost half of its total transaction volume coming from African markets such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

TPAY provides a much-needed mobile payment solution in markets with low banking penetration and high mobile adoption.

Helios completed the acquisition of a 76% stake in TPAY, a fast growing direct carrier billing provider in the Middle East and North Africa from A15, a leading tech investment fund based in Egypt. With offices in Cairo and the UAE, TPAY currently operates across 16 countries with almost half of its total transaction volume coming from African markets such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

Thndr recently acquired the necessary licensing from the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) making the fast-growing startup the first company to acquire a brokerage license in Egypt since 2008. 

“ Our vision is to put wealth in the hands of everyday individuals. With the rise of technology, and the foresight of a very supportive Financial Regulatory Authority, we can make this vision come to life — Egypt is expected to be the 7th largest economy by 2030 and has more than 100 mn people, most of which are young and are looking for a convenient and digital way to invest their money. That’s why we are excited to bring a new breed of young investors to the market.” 

Being the leading the electornic payments player in Egypt, Fawry is arguably the biggest benificiary of acceleration of digital payments there. It offers hundreds of electronic payment services through its network of over over close to 200,000 service points across Egypt – whcih include ATMs, mobile wallets, retail shops, post offices, and vendor kiosks. Fawry has introduced many new payments and lending products for both consumers and businesses over the last tweleve months and is apparently on additional new services too that are expected to be rolled out within the next few months.

The Egyptian payments firm had gone public in August 2020 by listing its shares on EGX at the price of EGP 6.46 per share. The share price has surged over 7x after company’s public market debut about eigtheen months ago.

Fawry service can immediately be used by Egyptians to receive and pay their bills electronically among an ever growing list of billers and supporting banks. Consumers can already use Fawry for bill presentment and payment for telecommunications services including Etisalat, Mobinil, and Vodanfone.

“Egypt needs fintech, specifically after the success story of Fawry, since our financial markets are not properly regulated at the level of payments and e-commerce – all of it is more informal, so any solutions would boom,” Sharara says.

MoneyFellows, an Egyptian startup incubated in London, marries technology with traditional money circles to help people save and borrow through their social networks. Like many other startups, MoneyFellows has to work with commercial banks because the Egyptian government has strict regulations about institutions that can look after customers’ deposits.

The $6 million investment will help Fawry, a local company, extend its network of payment terminals across Egypt, a country heavily reliant on cumbersome cash transactions. That is expected to help consumers pay bills and make it easier for businesses to receive payments, stoking commerce and economic growth.

The investment is also designed to help restore investor confidence in Egypt and create jobs in its burgeoning high-tech sector.

Fawry for Banking & Payment Technology Services SAE, an Egyptian digital payments provider, was listed on Cairo’s exchange about a year back. The company recently experienced a 300% increase in its market value to 20 billion Egyptian pounds (appr. $1.3 billion). The payments firm confirmed that its valuation has grown 4x since the COVID-19 outbreak in late February 2020. As first reported by Bloomberg, Fawry is now ranked among Egypt’s 10 most valuable firms, which include Telecom Egypt Co. and Elswedy Electric Co. However, these businesses are generating a lot more revenue compared to Fawry for now. Many locals in Egypt are still settling transactions with cash payments, despite the Coronavirus crisis which has made it unsafe to handle paper currency notes. However, the nation’s reserve bank has asked lending platforms and other financial service providers to encourage residents to make digital payments via mobile wallets. The central bank also wants Egyptians to use online payment platforms like Fawry in order to limit physical contact, so that the virus doesn’t spread further.

The digital transformation and e-payments company Fawry became the first listed tech company in Egypt with a market capitalisation of $1 billion last week. At the end of trading on 17 August, the market value of the company had jumped to LE15.56 billion (around $1 billion), meaning it is now rubbing shoulders with the likes of CIB (Egypt), QNB Al-Ahli, the Eastern Company, the Abu Qir Fertilisers Company, Telecom Egypt, and Al-Sewedy Electric in the EGX index billionaires’ club.