Egypt’s largest national banks – Banque Misr, National Bank of Egypt, and Banque du Caire along with Global Ventures, a leading MEA-focused venture capital firm, announce the launch of Nclude by Global Ventures, following 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 alongside other investors including eFinance Investment Group and Egyptian Banks Company.
“We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to partner with the local and international investor community to provide ambitious founders the tools they need to succeed and compete at local, regional and global levels, while contributing to Egypt’s socio-economic development and prosperity.”
~ Eslam Darwish, General Partner of the Nclude FinTech Fund
Fintech activity in Egypt has exponentially increased in recent years, making the country an attractive location for entrepreneurs and prospective investors in this industry. The supportive investment ecosystem reflects the success of government reforms aimed at streamlining regulatory and licensing processes, in addition to the Central Bank of Egypt’s initiatives in partnering with fintech players to promote a digitized and cashless economy.
Nclude is launched to support emerging high-potential new players in Egypt’s financial services sector, with an eye to developing the market’s e-payments ecosystem and expanding the Group’s transaction-based revenues.
The newly launched fund has already made investments in four Egypt-based fintech startups including Khazna, Lucky, Mozare3 and Paymob.
“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.”
~ Tarek Amer, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt
“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.”
~ Mohamed El-Etreby, Chairman of Banque Misr
“The Nclude Fund aims to sponsor early-stage Fintech startups, and young Fintech talent, who will help build the Egyptian economy of the future. In addition, the Fund targets creating an appropriate environment to attract, nurture, and localize talent in the Egyptian market to build creative Fintech solutions, while promoting innovation in the digital banking and financial services sector, to reach all segments of society with ease and efficiency. “
~ Hisham Okasha, Chairman of the National Bank of Egypt
“The launch of this Fund creates a unique opportunity for investors, and entrepreneurs to come together and create a scalable and affordable financial technology solutions. Such solutions will not only improve the quality of current services but will also create new services using cutting edge technology that leverages a data-driven approach to attract the underbanked and financially excluded segments of society.”
~ Tarek Fayed, Chairman and CEO of the Banque du Caire
“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.”
~ Basil Moftah, Partner at Global Ventures
