The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has met with the CEO and Founder of MoneyFellows Ahmed Wadi. MoneyFellows is one of the leading Egyptian fintech platforms.
 
The meeting reviewed the company’s future plan. MoneyFellows succeeded in attracting new foreign investments worth $31 million during the first closing of its Series B equity round, bringing the total foreign investments of the company to nearly $40 million. This investment supports the company to become a leading financial platform in the Middle East and Africa by 2025.
 
MoneyFellows aims to digitize money circles, known in Egypt and other Arab countries as Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs), using an e-application that allows users to subscribe to and follow money circles with other members without having to be acquainted.
 
The application provides several significant benefits and services, such as determining the amount, due date, and various payment and receiving methods such as credit cards or cash.
 
The round will allow MoneyFellows to accelerate its exponential growth by diversifying its portfolio of services and expanding its product offerings across the business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) segments, as well as its geographical expansion across Africa and Asia.             
 
The round was closed and led by CommerzVentures, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), and Arzan Venture Capital. Moreover, Invenfin, National Investments Company (NIC), as well as existing investors, such as Partech, Sawari Ventures, 4DX Ventures, and P1 Ventures also participated in the round.
 
The meeting was attended by the CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Amr Mahfouz, the Advisor to the ICT Minister for Technology Innovation, Electronics Industry and Training Hossam Osman, and various MoneyFellows officials.
 
During the meeting, the ICT Minister showcased the efforts made by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) to retain Egypt’s distinguished position in the entrepreneurship and startups sector. Egypt ranked first in the number of deals carried out annually in startups working in the ICT sector, and second in the volume of investments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
 
Talaat indicated that MCIT follows a strategy to foster the capabilities of startups working in the sector and raise the volume of foreign investments. The first pillar of the strategy includes the establishment of CREATIVA Innovation Hubs, through which training is provided to startups. This is in addition to providing acceleration and incubation programs for startups, and setting up networking forums with investors from leading companies in the ICT sector inside and outside Egypt during which negotiations, that are carried out successfully in most cases, are conducted. This has happened with MoneyFellows as capital has been injected into startups to increase the scope of their activity and support their capability in marketing their products in new markets.
 
The ICT Minister stated that CREATIVA Innovation Hubs are being established to develop startups, increase their number, and support their capability for competition and growth. Eight CREATIVA Innovation Hubs are established, he noted, and 10 other Hubs are going to be soft-launched early next year. Furthermore, the establishment of the remaining Hubs will be completed to reach 30 Hubs nationwide with more than EGP five billion investments.
 
The ICT Minister pointed out that the second pillar of MCIT strategy to support startups is training to provide the specialized talent pool required by startups in different governorates.
 
It is worth noting that more than four million users have downloaded the MoneyFellows application, with more than 250,000 active users and a solid eight times Year-over-year (YoY) growth.
 
For his part, Wadi said that MoneyFellows is pleased to share with its stakeholders and users the latest progress and growth, leading the company to become one of the market-leading FinTech companies in Egypt, facilitating financial inclusion and digital transformation in the country. He added that MoneyFellows would not have made this significant financial achievement without the firm backing of its current investors who understand and support the company’s vision. This is in addition to the perseverance and confidence of new partners in the company and the capability of MoneyFellows’ team to complete progress.
 
Wadi also added that the support the company received from leading local and global venture capital firms, in light of global economic instability and scarcity of growth, is a testament to their belief and confidence in the company’s business model and team, as well as the promising opportunities in the Egyptian market.