Barely a month after securing Egypt’s second banking agent license through the Arab Banking Corporation Egypt (Bank ABC Egypt), Dopay, a B2B2C payments network aimed at serving the 1.7 billion unbanked workers in emerging economies, has raised $18 million in a Series A round.
Force Over Mass Capital, FMO, and NN Group spearheaded the financing round. Mbuyu Capital and Alder Tree Investments also contributed significantly.
Why The Investors Invested
Wouter Volckaert, CIO at Force Over Mass Capital, stated:
“Egypt has around 2.4 million individual businesses and 104 million people, some 67% of whom do not have a bank account, while 94% have no access to credit. The dopay business model engages with business owners in the first instance, meaning they don’t have to attract individual customers. Each company signing up with dopay brings an entire workforce in a single transaction, and this is a very strong growth driver. Their new platform provides frictionless onboarding for employees, while enabling dopay to scale their business at pace.”
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Michiel Timmerman, Managing Partner, Mbuyu Capital, remarked:
“We are very excited about our investment in dopay. The company’s product offers significant potential for growth, addressing the very large market of cash-paid workers with a solution that benefits employers and employees. It presents an opportunity to create financial inclusion at scale. The regulatory approvals acquired to launch their next generation platform have created a strong competitive advantage for dopay in this segment of the financial services market in Egypt.”
Last month, Dopay, which is also backed by renowned investors such as Techstars Ventures, Ace & Company, received Egypt’s second banking agent license through the Arab Banking Corporation Egypt (Bank ABC Egypt).
Dopay will be able to offer a digital banking platform as a result of the new permit, which will allow organizations and businesses to easily register accounts for their employees and other beneficiaries while also being able to pay them in real-time (in accordance with the requirements provided by the Central Bank of Egypt).
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Under a partnership agreement, dopay and Bank ABC Egypt are working together to develop and offer a novel value proposition for SMEs, corporations, and their financially underprivileged employees (and various other beneficiaries based in Egypt).
A Look At What Dopay Does
Founded in 2014, companies of any size can use the Dopay platform to create and manage personal accounts for their employees and contractors in “seconds.” Staff may be paid immediately, even on weekends and holidays.
Each account comes with a prepaid debit card that “allows for 24-hour access to funds.” Enrolled firms can use a secure, cashless payroll system with easy-to-use interfaces and full auditability.
Users of personal accounts “enjoy instant, secure access to mainstream banking facilities, regardless of their income,” according to the Fintech firm, which also noted that dopay has grown from a proof of concept to “a fully licensed next generation virtual banking platform in Egypt, with hundreds of active customers ranging from small local businesses to global enterprises” in just five years.
The firm “pursues a program of concentrated growth in the MENA area, continuing to actively develop financial inclusion as a functioning reality for many thousands of users” through offices in London, Cairo, and Abu Dhabi.
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Egypt is Dopay’s first operating market, with 2.4 million local enterprises and 104 million residents.
Around two-thirds of Egyptians, or 67 percent, do not have access to a bank account, and nearly all do not have access to credit.
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