FinTech app Khazna has raised $38 million in equity and debt that will help it expand its reach to Egypt’s unbanked and underbanked population. The Series A equity funding round was led by US-based Quona Capital, followed by UAE-based Global Ventures’ Nclude, the new $85m FinTech fund financed by Egypt’s three largest banks. Debt financing was provided by Lendable, which has disbursed more than $225m to FinTech companies in more than 14 countries. Arab Bank Egypt served as the security agent facilitating the transaction. In the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt stands second in terms of the number of venture capital deals, according to data platform Magnitt. Egyptian start-ups raised a record $491m last year across 147 deals and attracted the highest percentage of foreign investors in the Mena. FinTech led transactions activity was the trend in the region, representing 17 per cent of total deals closed in the country.
Egypt topped the chart in African deals last year and came third in total funding where the local start-ups secured 18 per cent of total capital deployed across the whole continent. Founded in 2019, Khazna seeks to digitize cash transactions and cater to Egyptians who lack access to formal financial services, offering products such as general credit, salary advances, buy now pay later (BNPL) and bill payment to 150,000 active users. Khazna has benefited from the Central Bank of Egypt’s newly introduced regulations to help increase financial inclusion rates and accelerate the country’s digital transformation. Last week the bank launched a national Instant Payment Network and InstaPay mobile application that will allow customers to carry out electronic transfers instantly.