Money Fellows, led by Egyptian founder Ahmed Wadi, raises $31 million for expansion

Money Fellows, a Cairo-based fintech startup founded by Egyptian tech entrepreneur Ahmed Wadi, has raised $31 million in its just concluded Series-B funding round from institutional investors as it moves to expand its operations across Africa and Asia.

Money Fellows, founded in 2016 by Ahmed Wadi and Adham Badr, is a mobile-based collaborative group lending and savings platform that digitizes the traditional, informal offline ROSCA (Rotating Savings and Credit Association) Model, allowing users to meet their financial and saving needs.

Its $31-million Series-B round, its fourth round of funding since its inception, was led by Germany’s CommerzVentures, Middle East Venture Partners, and Kuwait’s Arzan Venture Capital.

Money Fellows has now raised $37 million in total funding. Its app, which is available on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, has more than 4 million downloads and over 250,000 active users on its platform.

The fintech startup announced that the $31-million capital injection will allow the platform to accelerate its growth by diversifying its portfolio of services and expanding its product offerings across the B2C and B2B segments, as well as geographical expansion across Africa and Asia.

While commenting on the investment, Money Fellows Founder and CEO Ahmed Wadi said the fintech startup is proud to share with its stakeholders and users the progress and growth that has led Money Fellows to become one of Egypt’s market-leading fintechs, facilitating financial inclusion and digital transformation in the country.

“We would not have reached such an important funding milestone without the firm backing of our existing investors who understand and support the company’s vision, as well as the perseverance and belief of our new partners in the company and the team’s ability to execute,” he said.

In times of unpredictability and a lack of growth capital rounds, Wadi said the support it received from local and international venture capital firms is a testament to their faith and confidence in the startup’s business model, team, and the overall opportunity that exists in the Egyptian market.

Wadi, who majored in computer engineering at the University of Stuttgart, worked on a number of projects for Microsoft and Daimler before establishing Money Fellows in 2016.