NowPay, a financial wellbeing network for workers based in Cairo, has joined Y Combinator and raised new funding in a Pre-Series A round. Along with another Egyptian fintech, Dayra, it is part of Y Combinator’s ongoing Winter 2021 (YC W21) batch.
“At YC, we help talented founders from anywhere in the world access the advice, network, and funding that Silicon Valley has to offer. With NowPay, we see dedicated founders tackling the huge problem of financial wellness in a region of the world that needs more tech investment. It was a clear decision to fund them,” Brad Flora, Group Partner at YC and a startup angel investor in San Francisco, said on NowPay’s inclusion in the accelerator.
Here Is What You Need To Know
- Global Ventures, Beco Capital, Endure Capital, Foundation Ventures, and Abderahman ElSewedy are among the investors in NowPay’s bridge round. The deal’s value was not revealed. Last year, the company raised $2.1 million in a seed round.
- The new funding will further assist the fintech startup towards its expansion into international markets.
Why The Investors Invested
Dubai-based Global Ventures has actively been investing in the African startup ecosystem. The VC has invested in Kenya’s Ilara Health, Nigeria’s Helium Health, Egypt’s Paymob, among others.
Read also:Ethiopia’s e-Payments Provider EthSwitch, Secures $2.33 million Grant from the AfDB
Beco Capital, also based in Dubai, has previously invested in NowPay. The venture capital firm has equally invested in North Africa’s leading startups such as Egypt’s healthtech Vezeeta, mobility startup SWVL, among others. Its investment in NowPay further cements its belief in the startup. It has actively been investing since 2017.
Based in Egypt, recently launched Foundation Ventures participated in NowPay’s $2.1m fundraise last year. Its latest investment in the startup further comfirms its belief in the startup’s future.
Abderahman ElSewedy is an angel investor and a director at Elsewedy Electric, based in Cairo.
Read also: Newly Funded Egyptian Fintech Startup, NowPay, Relies On Traditional Bank To Fund Its Product Model
A Look At What The Startup Does
- Founded by Mostafa Ashour and Ahmed Sabry, NowPay launched the financial wellness platform in 2019 to enable corporates to offer salary advances to their employees. They’ve recently also added Gehan Fathi, who previously worked as Managing Director at EFG (and joined this round as an angel) and Mahmoud ElHosseiny who managed Egypt sales for Fortune 500 company Stanley-Black Decker to their executive team.
- The employees of companies that partner with NowPay can request their salary (or a part of it) at any time of the month through its mobile app.
- The account has to be validated by the employer before it can be used to request advances. Once the account is approved, they can also see the details of their salary and how much are they eligible to request as advance. The mobile app also enables users to manage and track their savings, expenses, and offers them financial recommendations. NowPay’s website says that its solution is Shariah-compliant. For employers, it is free. The employees, however, are charged a fee every time they use it.
- Mostafa Ashour, the co-founder and CEO of NowPay who previously led the innovation teams at Microsoft Research said that their solution is currently being used by over 70 entities which includes a mix of publicly listed companies, multinationals, and startups. Some of those companies are Domty, MNHD, Sodic, Axa, Trella, Elmenus, and Wuzzuf.
- The solution offered by NowPay helps employers improve employee happiness, productivity, and corporate loyalty, without any changes in their cash flow as the money is offered by NowPay. For employers, it is pretty much business as usual. They are only supposed to deduct the advance amount and fee from the salary at the end of the month (or whenever they pay the salaries) and pay it to NowPay directly.
- NowPay claims to have managed over $200 million in salaries and serves clients like Sodic, Axa, ITWorx, Vezeeta, KarmSolar, and many more.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer
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