The Egyptian electronic payments company Fawry has become Africa’s third Unicorn after Jumia and Interswitch. Fawry presently ramps up a market capitalization of over $1 billion, a feat it achieved during the intraday trading, with its share price rising to EGP 22.69 which gives it a market cap of EGP 16 billion or $1 billion for the first time since its establishment. With this, Fawry has become the first technology company in Egypt to get to the billion-dollar valuation.

Fawry’s stock price has increased by over 300 percent since its debut at the Egyptian Exchange in August last year. It had gone public with its shares priced at EGP 6.46 (per share). Fawry equally witnessed a surge in its stock price during the first two months after its public markets debut but the price afterward remained almost flat until March – when they also saw it drop to one of its lowest points of EGP 7 per share. But since then, it has been on an upward trajectory – which also coincides with Covid-19.

Read also:Egypt’s Fawry Finally Goes On IPO With Shares Oversubscribed 30.3 Times On First Day

The pandemic has created a surge in demand for electronic payment services and Fawry being the leading player in Egypt obviously has benefited a lot from that – which is also evident from the company’s just-announced financials for the second quarter. Its revenue for the first half of 2020 has increased by 47 percent (year-on-year) to EGP 549.26 million ($34.41 million) from EGP 373.33 million ($23.38 million) for the same period of 2019. The net profit of the company in H1 2020 has increased by over 135 percent YoY to EGP 85.9 million ($5.38 million) from EGP 36.47 million ($2.29) in H1 2019.

Read also:Egyptian Startup Fawry Goes On Egypt’s Largest IPO

 Fawry that is the only technology company on The Egyptian Exchange currently offers over 250 electronic payment services through its network of over 105,000 service points across 300 cities in Egypt – that include ATMs, mobile wallets, retail shops, post offices, and little vendor kiosks and according to analysts, it has contributed immensely in deepening financial inclusion in Egypt.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry