Following a limited debut in October, Sympl, an Egyptian fintech formed only five months ago, has revealed that it had raised $6 million in seed funding.
The seed financing for the five-month-old startup was led by Beco Capital, with participation from A15 and Global Ventures.
“We all joined forces to establish Sympl because we all share the vision that there is a huge opportunity for the buy now, pay later here in Egypt, given its very populous market,” founder and CEO El-Feky said. “It’s a consumer purchase driven market where we have a lot of accessibility to consumer products and services, online or offline,” said Mohamed El-Feky, Yasmine Henna, and Karim Tawfik who started Sympl in August this year.
Sympl plans to use the funds to develop its merchant network, invest in technical updates and innovations, recruit additional people, and expand its reach across Egypt to all 27 governorates (it now operates in two).
Why The Investors Invested
The startup has substantial metrics on ground. According to the company, Sympl has onboarded up to 240 merchants selling products in electronics, fashion, appliances, furniture, travel, healthcare, jewelry, and education. By the middle of next year, it hopes to have 1,000 locations. Henna further stated that the number of transactions on Sympl is increasing by 25% week over week.
Read also African Business, Political Leaders Start Dialogue on Green Initiative
BECO Capital, which was founded in 2012, has to date made 22 investments. Its portfolio includes Egyptian startups Vezeeta, Swvl and MaxAB. The firm added that its BECO Fund I has had four exits as at 2019. These include Uber’s acquisition of Dubai-based taxi aggregator Careem and Cisco’s acquisition of collaboration platform Voicea in March and August of 2019, respectively.
A Look At What The Startup Does
A common Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) approach entails dividing a purchase into several equal payments. The first payment, usually 25% of the total transaction, is made at checkout, with the remaining payments spread out over three months.
Sympl, however, uses a unique strategy that the company claims will help clients save money when shopping.
Read also Egyptian Waste Management Startup, Plstka, Raises Seed Funding Round
When consumers check out of a Sympl merchant, the company recognises the funds in their bank accounts and charges them a one-time fixed fee of 100 Egyptian pounds. The fee covers future repayment collection and is the same regardless of the purchase price.
After that, Sympl provides customers with the option of using a no-interest pay later plan. The remaining payments are spread out across three to five installments. The plans, according to the company, appeal to various divisions of consumers’ job status, including gig workers, freelancers, self-employed individuals, and conventional employees.
Sympl’s October launch was calculated. For a week, it worked only with Tradeline, Egypt’s largest iPhone 13 reseller, meaning users could only buy the phone through Sympl, either online or in person.
“During our launch, we were lucky enough because Mohamed and I had a lot of partners who worked with us at valU (the consumer fintech where both worked before Sympl). And because of our success back then, they came to us as merchants and wanted to partner with us at Sympl,” said COO Henna.
“They like the platform because they think it’s unique because, for the first time in Egypt, we’re offering debit or pay later options for the debit card population in Egypt.”
Buy Now Pay Later Sympl Buy Now Pay Later Sympl
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