Egyptian fintech startup NowPay signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Export Development Bank of Egypt (EBE) for a credit facility to fund NowPay’s current salary advances product and to cover adding more products.
This comes as EBE strives to accelerate financial inclusion by partnering with startups.
“We believe that the cooperation with Export Development Bank of Egypt will assist in growing our current business model in addition to offering more innovative fintech products to users,” said Gehan Fathi, Head of Financial Partnerships at NowPay.
The MoU marks one of the first collaborations between fintech startups and financial institutions in Egypt.
NowPay allows corporate employees to get their salaries in advance any time in the month through its mobile app, which means access to emergency funding anytime, hence better manage their budget.
Launched in 2019, NowPay aims at lowering employees’ financial stress by improving the four pillars of financial wellness for employees; saving, spending, budgeting, and borrowing.
The company most recently raised $2.1 million in seed investment in May 2020 in a round led by Foundation Ventures and Endure Capital and investors from the U.S., UAE, China, and Egypt. The investors’ cluster includes BECO Capital, 500 Startups, Plug and Play, 4dx Ventures, MSA Capital, EFG-EV Fintech, and Ebtikar. Prominent Angel investors such as Quirky Ventures, Gehan Fathi, and Rolaco also participated in the round.
The company had raised $600,000 in seed funding from Endure Capital and 500 Startups in 2019.
To date, NowPay has managed over $200 million in salaries and signed many leading companies, including SODIC, Wadi Degla, Domty, and Axa.
The startup is led by Mostafa Ashour, co-founder, and CEO, who previously led Microsoft’s innovation teams. Ahmed Sabry worked at Amazon Lending, Gehan Fathi, former Managing Director at EFG, and Mahmoud ElHosseiny who managed Egypt’s sales for Stanley Black & Decker.
