Egypt has a new FinTech support fund

Aiming to accelerate FinTech innovation in Egypt, Egypt’s largest national banks — Banque Misr, National Bank of Egypt (NBE), and Banque du Caire — as well as Global Ventures launched “Nclude,” a new FinTech support fund earlier today.

The fund, approved by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), will implement Egypt’s strategic vision targeting support for young innovators, with an initial investment amounting to $85 million financed by the three national banks as well as other investors, including Egypt’s state-owned e-finance Investment Group and Egyptian Banks Company.

“This step is an implementation of the directives of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to support innovative youths in the FinTech and FinTech-enabled sector as well as the CBE’s FinTech and Innovation Strategy,” said CBE Governor Tarek Amer.  

The fund also has a plan to attract further investment from prominent regional and international investors.

Nclude has already dipped its toes in the market, with its first four investments including Khazna, a financial super app that offers convenient, technology-driven financial solutions to underserved consumers; Lucky, Egypt’s leading consumer FinTech app, offering instalments, offers, cashback rewards and credit; Mozare3, an Agri-FinTech platform that provides smallholder farmers with direct access to inputs financing, markets, and hands-on technical support; in addition to Paymob, a leading digital payment service provider.

Alongside investing in existing start-ups, the fund will be supported by Shipyard Technology Ventures — a global venture builder — which is expected to create fintech start-ups that address opportunities at local and regional levels.