Over 103 million people call Egypt home, and the country’s population is expanding at a rate of about 2% annually. A retail industry that is expanding quickly as a result of the rapid population growth is now worth $250 billion in potential consumer spending. Although digital payments have clearly increased over the last few years, barely 4% of consumer purchasing is thought to be cashless.
Local fintech startups have been increasing their efforts to close financial services’ gaps and raise the stakes in the consumer spending arena, giving more people and those who are not part of the formal banking system better access to financial products and encouraging the development of better money management practices.
“For financial businesses like ours, the demographics of the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) area present enormous promise. Compared to one-third in Europe, more than 60% of the population in this region is under the age of 30. Additionally, the populace is quite tech-savvy and eager to adopt new innovations. Given that 50% of the population lacks access to banking, Egypt is not an exception, with customers not receiving actual value for their money because the traditional banking process is cumbersome, time-consuming, and complex. Egypt is a desirable market for Nexta because of this “says Nexta CEO Ahmed Hisham.
Described as a lifestyle banking app, Nexta. This fintech gives customers prepaid cards so they may send money to one another without having to open a bank account and keep track of their spending patterns to improve their budgeting.
There are many consumer needs that should be met, especially in light of the rising desire for a change in the way financial services are used. This is where Nexta steps in with its objective of providing digitally native services that support users in maintaining their lives and enabling people from all walks of life to achieve financial independence,” he continues.
e-finance, a supplier of online financial services, invested $3 million in Nexta, bringing the total money raised by the company since its founding last year to $5.2 million. Nexta also secured a $2.2 million pre-Seed round in March of this year, which was co-led by the Egyptian fintech fund Disruptech and included investors from around the world. The recently acquired cash will be used to “tidy up the firm until its official launch,” which is anticipated to happen in the next few weeks.
The statement came a week after Telda app, a rival, announced the conclusion of a $20 million Seed fundraising round and the formal launch of its app after receiving a digital license from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). Another notable player in the nation’s emerging digital banking market is Klivvr, a unit of Orascom Financial Holding (OFH). Each of the three applications is supported by a bank that has obtained a current CBE-issued banking agent license.
