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Monday, 8 March 2021

GlobalCorp aims to double its lending portfolio + NowPay eyes new fintech products

We have a smattering of debt + finance news to take note of this morning:

Non-banking financial services provider GlobalCorp plans to double its lending portfolio to EGP 6 bn this year. The Ezdehar-backed lender will ramp up its factoring and leasing services to companies in the construction, health, food and education sectors, and plans to have SMEs make up 30% of its portfolio by the end of 2021.

Payroll management company NowPay has lined up financing from Export Development Bank of Egypt for its salary advance product, the company said in a statement last night (pdf). The two parties have a memorandum of understanding that funding will also be earmarked for other, unspecified products, NowPay said. The startup has so far managed over USD 200 mn in salaries and has signed on corporate clients including SODIC, Wadi Degla, Domty and Axa. NowPay, founded in 2019 to help employees manage their finances and organize advance salary payments, raised USD 600k in a seed funding round led by Endure Capital and 500 Startups. The company also raised another USD 2.1 mn in seed funding last year from a group of Egyptian, US, UAE and Chinese investors led by Foundation Ventures and Endure Capital.

Etisalat Egypt has borrowed USD 160 mn to fund the purchase of new cellular spectrum from a syndicate of four UAE banks: Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Mashreq Bank, and First Abu Dhabi Bank. Etisalat bought two 10-MHz bands for USD 325 mn in an auction run in September by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. Vodafone Egypt and Telecom Egypt had also snapped up new cellular frequencies in the sale, with Vodafone buying two 20-MHz bands for USD 540 mn and TE buying two 10-MHz bands for USD 305 mn.

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