National Bank of Egypt, Others Launch Nclude Venture Fund Aimed at Young Innovators

Egypt’s largest national banks, Banque Misr, National Bank of Egypt and Banque du Caire, have launched a new venture fund called Nclude, the banks announced Sunday (March 20).

The fund was launched in partnership with venture capital firm Global Ventures, and will focus on FinTech startups in the Middle East and Africa. According to the press release, the move will try to help young innovators who are looking at bolstering the Egyptian economy.

The fund, which places a focus on both accelerating FinTechs and driving financial inclusion, has already made four investments. Per the release, investments have gone towards financial “super app” Khazna, consumer FinTech app Lucky, agri-FinTech platform Mozare3 and Paymob, a digital payment service provider.

The three banks will put in an initial investment equal to $85 million. However, other investors are involved, including eFinance Investment Group and Egyptian Banks Company, and there could be more investments in the future.

Tarek Amer, governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, said Nclude was intended “to support innovative youth in Fintech and Fintech-enabled sector,” as well as the Central Bank of Egypt’s FinTech and Innovation Strategy.

Amer continued that adopting “innovative FinTech solutions capable of delivering banking and financial services to all segments of society more easily and at less cost” was a “crucial step to transform Egypt into a regional center for the FinTech industry in the Arab World and Africa.”

PYMNTS wrote that Cairo-based digital investment firm Thndr recently received $20 million in Series A funding, which will go towards product development and adding to Thndr’s presence around the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Read more: Egyptian Startup Thndr Raises $20M to Make Investing Available to the Underbanked

Thndr was launched in late 2020 by its CEO Ahmad Hammouda and chief operating officer Seif Amr. The company’s idea was to get rid of outdated processes of opening and managing investment accounts, wanting to make it easy to invest in stocks, bonds and funds.

“We are building an investment supermarket for MENA consumers to access relevant investment products,” Hammouda said in a statement. “With a focus on financial literacy, we equip investors with the knowledge to make self-directed investment decisions.”