Egyptian Fintech Startup Khazna Raises Seed Funding to Advance Financial Inclusion Services
Khazna provides online financial services to Egypt's underbanked, who have limited access to formal bank services and regular access to smartphones.
Egyptian fintech startup, Khazna, has scored a seed round investment led by Algebra Ventures and with participation from Accion Venture Lab. Founded just last year, the Cairo-based company aims to cater to the 20 million underbanked Egyptians by providing online financial services for users who do not regularly have access to formal banking services, but have access to smartphones. Their main concept is to give users the opportunity to pay, save, borrow and insure, in many cases, eliminating the need to physically go to the bank.
Commenting on the investment, founder and SEO, Omar Saleh, intends to channel the funds into a range of financial inclusion products and “use cases to reach the product/market-fit stage by leveraging new technologies, data and analytical tools to serve the underbanked in Egypt.”
The startup’s first product is Khazna HR, which offers a salary cash advance option for employers that can be activated for employee emergencies – a service that is offered by another fintech startup, NowPay, with Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures, Tarek Assaad, anowledging the increasing competitiveness of the sector.
“We’re seeing the rise of a new wave of Egyptian fintech startups that are attracting interest from local and international investors. We’re excited to be leading this round with Khazna. Omar is an exceptional entrepreneur and we believe that he and his team will grow Khazna to be one of the most transformative startups emerging from Egypt in the next few years.”
