Egypt’s three largest banks launch Nclude fintech venture fund with $85 million initial funding

Egypt’s largest national banks, Banque Misr, National Bank of Egypt, and Banque du Caire, Egypt’s Banque Misr have launched a new Fintech venture fund called Nclude in partnership with Global Ventures. The Nclude fund, which is managed by MEA-focused venture capital firm Global Ventures, follows approval by the Central Bank of Egypt (“CBE”).

The initial amount, equivalent to $85 million investment in the Fund, is led by Banque Misr as an Anchor Investor and National Bank of Egypt and Banque du Caire as Strategic Investors. Other investors include eFinance Investment Group and Egyptian Banks Company. The Fund is also set to attract further investment from prominent regional and international investors.

The Fund will accelerate Fintech Innovation and drive Financial Inclusion. It is implementing the country’s strategic vision to support young innovators building the Egyptian Economy of the future.

The fund is part of an implementation of the country’s strategic vision to support young innovators who will build the Egyptian Economy of the future, Nclude by Global Ventures will focus on accelerating Fintech Innovation and driving Financial Inclusion.

The Fund is also set to attract further investment from prominent regional and international investors. The Fund has already made its first investments in four startup companies including Khazna, a financial Super App that offers convenient, technology-driven financial solutions to underserved consumers, and Luckyy, Egypt’s leading consumer fintech app, offering installments, offers, cashback rewards, and credit.

The other two companies include Mozare3,  meaning farmer in Arabic, is an Agri-fintech platform that provides smallholder farmers with direct access to inputs financing, markets, and hands-on technical support, and Paymob, a leading digital payment service provider.

In addition to investing in existing startups, the Fund will be supported by Shipyard Technology Ventures – a global venture builder – who are bringing their world-class development capabilities to the Egyptian market to help create Fintech start-ups that address local and regional opportunities.

In a statement, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Mr. Tarek Amer said, “This step is an implementation of the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to support innovative youth in 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, as a crucial step to transform Egypt into a regional center for the FinTech industry in the Arab World and Africa.”

Mr. Mohamed El-Etreby, Chairman of Banque Misr, said, “Banque Misr’s contribution to this Fund is a reflection of our commitment to keeping up with the pace of global developments in Fintech – as it is the future of banking and financial services in Egypt and the world. This Fund will achieve many gains for the Egyptian Economy by supporting the country’s young Fintech talent and creating the ideal environment for them to develop innovative solutions that will help deliver banking and financial services to all segments of society in a more efficient and affordable manner.

“This is an important step to transform Egypt into a Regional center for the Arab and African Fintech industry. It will also help raise financial inclusion rates and accelerate Egypt’s digital transformation, which is integral to delivering the Egypt Vision 2030.”

Basil Moftah, Partner at Global Ventures, said: “We are delighted to have the overwhelming support of all our investors in this Fund, and thankful for their trust. Over the past few years, we have had the privilege of being part of the journey of many entrepreneurs across MEA, with a particular focus on the Fintech sector and Egypt as a key priority market.

He added, “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. We look forward to partnering with all stakeholders in the ecosystem to continue to fuel this growth and transform Egypt into a Regional center of excellence for Fintech innovation.” 

Eslam Darwish, General Partner of the Nclude FinTech Fund, added: “Over the past few years, Egypt made a quantum leap forward by becoming home to a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem with Fintech at its heart. Thanks to progressive government regulation, and an increasing partnership with financial institutions, Fintech startups, are playing a pivotal role in transforming Egypt into a financially inclusive digital economy via Fintech innovation.”