Banque Misr, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), and Banque du Caire have launched “Nclude” fintech fund in partnership with Global Ventures, after obtaining the approval of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
The fund aims to promote fintech innovation and financial inclusion in Egypt and support early- and growth-stage Egyptian fintech startups, according to a press release on Sunday.
Meanwhile, e-finance For Digital and Financial Investments has joined Egypt’s largest national banks with $10 million investments in Nclude.
The Fund directed its initial investments to four companies, namely, Khazna, an Egyptian technology company specialized in electronic financial solutions through the comprehensive Khazna application; Lucky, a pioneering application in financial services technology in Egypt; “Mozare3” (Farmer), an emerging agricultural technology company that aspires to digitize the agricultural sector in Egypt and the Middle East through a smart application to meet the financial and non-financial needs of farmers; and “Paymob”, which was founded in 2015 and provides integrated electronic payment solutions in Egypt, Africa and the Middle East. Paymob aims to facilitate the receipt of various electronic payments (cards – installments – electronic wallets) for merchants, whether online or payment machines to develop their businesses.
The Governor of the CBE, Tarek Amer, said: “This step is an implementation of the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to support innovative youth in the Fintech and Fintech-enabled sector, as well as CBE’s FinTech & Innovation Strategy which aims to create an enabling environment for the FinTech industry and adopt more innovative FinTech solutions capable of delivering banking and financial services to all segments of society more easily and at less cost.”
Meanwhile, the Partner at Global Ventures, Basil Moftah, commented: “Egypt’s huge unbanked, young population, and cash-dominated economy offers strong opportunities for local and regional Fintech and Fintech enabled companies who continue to witness exponential growth in the market.”
