Egyptian fintech Money Fellows raises $31 million in Series B funding

Egyptian fintech, Money Fellows announced it has raised $31 million in the first close of its Series B funding to accelerate its growth and move into new markets.

• Founded in 2016, Money Fellows is a mobile-based platform that digitises money circles or rotating savings and credit associations – made up of a group of individuals who together act as an informal financial institution, known as "gameya" in Egypt and other Arab countries.
• The platform allows users to manage and plan their financial obligations and achieve their financial goals. It also offers a secure and convenient alternative to traditional finance that is more culturally favourable, affordable, and incentivising.
• According to the startup, the market is largely untapped and ripe for disruption with 2.4 billion people globally using money circles through traditional channels.
• Money Fellows, which boasts more than 4 million downloads of its mobile app and more than 250K active users, has raised a total of $36.6 million, starting with $600K in a seed round from 500 startups and Dubai angel investors; it raised $1 million in 2019 and $4 million in 2020.
• The Series B round, its fourth funding round since 2018, was led by Germany's CommerzVentures, Middle East Venture Partners and Kuwait's Arzan Venture Capital with participation from other investors.
• The fintech plans to diversify its portfolio of services and product offerings across the B2C and B2B segments with the new funding. It also plans to expand its market across other regions in Africa.