STARTUP WATCH- Fintech startup MoneyFellows has raised over USD 1 mn in pre-series A funding from 500 Startups and Dubai Angel Investors — both of which invested in its seed round last year, the startup told Menabytes. Lebanon’s Phoenician Fund and several individual investors also participated in the funding round. MoneyFellows plans to use these funds to scale its user base, and intends to raise USD 3 mn in series A funding by the end of this year, before expanding in MENA in 2020 and establishing a presence in other countries in Africa in 2021.

How does the model work? MoneyFellows is working to digitize “money circles” (known in the region as a gam’eya), using a scoring model. The setup, which is commonly used in the region, sees a group of people commit to paying an installment into a pool every month, with a different member taking the whole pool as a payout each month. Through MoneyFellows, users set up profiles with documents showing their income and personal details, which determines their score, and are then used to calculate their credit assessment. The user is then shown different circles, applicable to their credit assessment, and can then select a circle, a preferred slot, mode of payment and payout.