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Monday, 31 October 2022

MoneyFellows raises USD 31 mn in series B funding

MoneyFellows closes bumper series B round: Egyptian fintech startup MoneyFellows has raised USD 31 mn in a series B funding round, it said in a statement (pdf) yesterday.

Who invested: The round was led by CommerzVentures, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), and Arzan Venture Capital. Invenfin, National Investment Company (NIC) and existing investors, including Sawari Ventures, Partech, 4DX Ventures and P1Ventures also participated in the round.

This is the fourth-biggest funding round in Egypt this year and third-largest fintech raise, according to our in house tracker.

What does MoneyFellows do, exactly? MoneyFellows creates digital “money circles” — known in the region as a gameya — using a scoring model, as a way to offer peer-to-peer, no-interest lending. The members of each circle commit to paying an installment into a pool every month, with a different member taking the whole pool as a payout each month. The company says it has hundreds of thousands of monthly users and has seen 8x y-o-y growth.

MoneyFellows has now raised a total of USD 36.6 mn from investors, having secured USD 5.6 mn in series A and seed funding prior to the latest round.

Where the funds are going: MoneyFellows will use the money to “accelerate its exponential growth by diversifying its portfolio of services and expanding their product offerings across the B2C and B2B segments, as well as its geographical expansion across Africa and Asia,” it said in the statement. Currently operating only in Egypt, MoneyFellows is looking to expand to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the company told us.

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