Welcome to the Fintech Founder monthly newsletter! 

Time to catch up on what happened in the Middle East Africa South Asia (MEASA) region during the past month. Below are highlights of our latest Fintech Founders episodes hosted by Ronit & Gaurav and the latest funding-related news items from the region. 

Quotable Quotes from our FinTech Founders

“Fintech is a regulated business and you need to be resilient since it takes time and money to build in this space.

Frans Van Eersel, CO-FOUNDER OF DOPAY

“If you believe in something don’t give up, often it could seem like the end of the world, but what separates winners from others is carrying on.”

Nitya Sharma, FOUNDER OF SIMPL

Helping 67% of Egyptians who are unbanked

The untold story of Dopay’s Co-Founder, Frans Van Eersel.

Frans van Eersel Fintech Founders CFTE
A snapshot from the session with Frans Van Eersel, and Ronit Ghose

Frans Van Eersel was our guest on episode three of the Fintech Founders Series and with his help we dived into the highly promising Egyptian Fintech market.

3 main points for those looking to better understand the Fintech scene in Egypt:

  • There are huge inclusion problem and opportunities in emerging markets such as Egypt and we are only just getting started
  • Egypt has 100 million people and more than 2 million corporates – a big market for Fintechs
  • Dopay recently raised significant funding and is planning its geographical expansion beyond Egypt soon

You can watch the sessions below on Youtube, or listen it on Apple and Spotify Podcasts.


How to build the next Visa?

The untold story of Simpl’s Founder, Nitya Sharma.

A snapshot from the session with Perseus Mlambo, Gaurav Dhar, and Ronit Ghose

Nitya Sharma joined us on episode four and told us the story of how Simpl was built and the vision and execution it was built on:

  • Credit card business models make money from customer loss. Nitya wanted to build a business that was win-win: the customer wins, Simpl wins.
  • Merchants are also often overlooked and marginalised, the smaller you are the more no one cares about you. 
  • A fast growing startup changes itself every 6 months

You can watch the sessions below on Youtube, or listen it on Apple and Spotify Podcasts.


What happened in Fintech last month in the MEASA region

In case you missed it, here are some of the movers and shakers that made the news in the FinTech MENSA World. Egypt, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, South Africa and India have witnessed a lot of seed funding rounds which underlines the promising expansion plans for Fintech hubs in the region.

Jumo Secures US$120m to Scale Its BaaS Platform

South Africa-headquartered AI-based banking-as-a-service platform Jumo has raised $120 million from new and existing backers. After this round, the total of Jumo’s funding raised around $200 million.

ClearTax Rebrands, Raises US$75m for Middle East Expansion

ClearTax, India-based Fintech SaaS company has raised US$75 million in a Series C funding round in order to apply the company’s expansion plan to the Middle East.

Sarwa Launches Zero Commission and Transfer Fee Trading Platform

UAE-based personal finance and investment platform Sarwa has officially launched Sarwa Trade platform, which lets users trade stocks and ETFs with no commission and international transfer fees. In addition, this launch of Sarwa Trade followed after a US$15 million Series B funding round in August 2021.


TAG fintech brand raised over $12M

Tag, the Pakistan-based Fintech has raised more than $12M in its latest funding round.


Crypto Platform CoinMENA Picks Up US$9.5m Seed Funding

CoinMENA, the Bahrain-headquartered crypto trading platform has raised US$9.5 million in its first seed funding round.


Pakistan’s Udhaar Book Secures US$6m for Digital Book-Keeping Appa

Udhaar Book, the Pakistan-based MSME-focused cash flow management platform has raised $6 million in seed funding round to digitise credit in all of the retail shops located in Pakistan.


Sayvour raised $3.3M funding

Sayvour, the popular Pakistan-based Fintech platform has raised $3.3 million in its latest seed funding round.


UAE-based Fintech Galaxy closes $2m Seed round

The first UAE-based open finance platform Fintech Galaxy has raised $2 million in its seed funding round.



Fawry fintech brand continues strategic expansion

Fawry, the Egypt-based Fintech giant and E-payment solution provider has successfully managed to acquire shares in Brimore which is a social commerce marketplace, and it is valued at $1 million.


Egypt’s Youngest FinTech Sympl raises first funds

Egypt’s youngest FinTech and online payment solutions provider Sympl has successfully raised undisclosed first funds from local VC with regional focus A15.

We hope you enjoyed the last 2 Fintech founders episode with us and that you are excited for the the next to come! 

Our first episode The untold story of Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful | Fintech Founders
Our second episode The untold story of Piggyvest with Odunayo Eweniyi | Fintech Founders


Rewatch Fintech Founders sessions WATCH NOW!

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