Egypt dominates Forbes Top 30 Fintech Companies 2023 List

Egyptian Fintech companies took over Forbes Middle East's top 30 Fintechs list for 2023. Egypt had 8 entries, that's 2 more than Saudi Arabia which had 6 entries while UAE had only 5, and so did Kuwait.

Payment companies, particularly Egypt's e-payment platform Fawry, came in the lead. It is not an easy year for Fintech companies, especially with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which had a significant impact on Fintech IPOs globally. However, Fintech companies in MENA expect only a small impact.

Some of these Egyptian companies raised funding in the last year, including MNT-Halan, which secured over $200 million to become the latest unicorn from the MENA region. Here are the 8 Egyptian companies on the list.

1. Fawry

Fawry is an e-payment platform that was established in Egypt in 2008. It offers electronic bill payments and mobile top-ups. Fawry enables both corporates and SMEs to accept electronic payments through various channels. 

It currently has a network of 36 member banks and more than 280,000 agents, and serves 49.4 million users, processing transactions worth $6.8 billion in 2022. Fawry Microfinance, a subsidiary, launched a digital loan request and tracking mobile app, called "Tamweelak Fawry," in November 2022 and plans to launch a BNPL service in 2023. In 2022, Fawry's revenue grew by 37.5% to $75 million, and its market cap stood at $542 million as of March 21. ADQ is the largest shareholder, with a 12.6% stake.

2. MNT-Halan

MNT-Halan is a digital banking services provider founded in Egypt in 2018. Its services include small and micro business lending, payments, consumer finance, and e-commerce for unbanked customers. The company obtained an electronic wallet license from the Central Bank of Egypt to disburse, collect, and transfer money digitally through mobile applications.

MNT-Halan has 1.5 million monthly active users, serving more than six million customers, with four million financial clients and over 2.5 million borrowers. The company processed transactions worth $1.8 billion in 2022 and became a unicorn after raising over $200 million from Chimera Abu Dhabi in February 2023.

3. AMAN Holding

AMAN Holding is an Egyptian fintech company that provides e-payment and financial services. Founded in 2015, the company operates through 163 offices and 230 retail stores, serving 40 million customers in Egypt monthly. Its services include e-payments, consumer finance, microfinancing, and SME services. The company's app offers various services such as e-commerce and bill and utility payments. In 2022, AMAN processed transactions worth $1.5 billion, and it launched a money market fund to support unbanked customers. In February 2023, AMAN's securitization arm received regulatory approvals for a three-year $161.8 million securitization program. As of December 2022, the company's app had been downloaded over a million times with 550,000 active users.

4. Paymob

Paymob is a financial technology company established in 2015 and based in Egypt. It offers a gateway, point of sale (POS), and Paymob app to enable digital payments in Egypt, Pakistan, the U.A.E., and Oman. Paymob serves over 170,000 businesses and 18 million mobile wallet users. Its customers include Vodafone, LG, Virgin, Uber, and Decathlon. In 2022, the company launched the Paymob app in Egypt. It raised $50 million in a Series B funding round in May 2022, bringing its total funding to $68.5 million.

5. valU

valU is a buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) platform based in Egypt, established in 2017 and a subsidiary of EFG Hermes Holding. valU allows users to shop across more than 4,000 retailer partners and 1,000 websites in Egypt, with payment plans of up to 60 months. The platform has seen impressive growth with more than a million transactions worth a total of $300 million in 2022, and over 935,000 app customers as of December 2022. In August 2022, valU acquired the HR-focused platform Paynas, and in June 2022, the Alhokair family acquired a 4.99% stake in valU through a capital injection of $12.4 million.

6. MoneyFellows

MoneyFellows is an Egyptian fintech startup founded in 2017 by Ahmed Wadi that digitizes money circles, also known as rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCA). In 2022, the total value of money circles digitized by the company quadrupled compared to the previous year. The MoneyFellows app had over 4.2 million downloads with 332,000 active users as of December 2022. The company has raised a total of $38 million in funding, including a Series B round in October 2022, which raised $31 million.

7. PaySky

PaySky is a digital payment solutions company founded in Egypt in 2017. It provides payment solutions to financial institutions, businesses, and individuals in 11 countries, including building national payment gateways for multiple central banks in MEA. In 2022, PaySky partnered with Visa to launch the Yalla Card and Yalla Super app, with more than 30 mini-apps, including financial and non-financial services for individuals and businesses in Egypt and the U.A.E. The Yalla Super app has been downloaded more than 2.5 million times, with over 1.6 million active users as of December 2022. In February 2023, PaySky launched its Yalla Invest mini-app, which allows investing in gold starting from 0.25 grams, as part of Yalla Super App’s expansion strategy.

8. Thndr

Thndr is a digital investment platform that was launched in 2020 in Egypt. It allows users to invest in Egyptian mutual funds, publicly listed companies, and the US stock market. Thndr claims that 86% of new registrations in the local Egyptian exchanges come through its platform. Its app has recorded 1.1 million downloads with over 271,000 active users as of December 2022. The platform's founders are Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr, who have previously worked at Uber in Egypt and the Middle East.