Egyptian-Led MidLyr Raises $2.5M to Scale AI Infrastructure in MENA

AI startup MidLyr has raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Silicon Badia, with participation from Wedbush Ventures, Hustle Fund, DCG and Story Ventures. MidLyr offers an AI infrastructure platform designed to help banks and fintechs automate complex operational workflows, align processes with regulatory frameworks, and reduce institutional risk. Co-founded by Wael Elsahhar and Ruochen Ren, the company says it has garnered early interest from enterprise-grade financial institutions. “Banking is one of the largest sectors in the economy, and 60-70% of its revenue is spent just keeping operations running,” said Wael Elsahhar, Egyptian-born CEO and Co-Founder of MidLyr. “Despite this, there are still no fit-for-purpose tools for the people actually running those operations. Most solutions are either generic or naive about the nuance and complexity of bank environments. MidLyr’s mission is to give bank operators the intelligent, compliant tools they deserve—so they can serve customers better and reduce risk.” With the fresh capital, MidLyr plans to expand hiring across engineering, data science, design and compliance product roles, while deepening partnerships with banks and fintechs in Egypt, the United States and across the broader MENA region.