Most of Egypt's population cannot obtain traditional banking business, forcing many people to rely on cash transactions and informal loans. Khazna is a fintech startup established in 2019. It solves this problem by providing financial services tailored by low -income and middle -income workers. The company provides solutions such as salary, digital payment and micro -aspects to help employees and contractors get urgent financial services.
Khazna has recently received $ 16 million in prepayment B funds, with a total funds of more than $ 63 million. The investment will support its expansion plan because it is preparing to apply for digital bank permits in Egypt and extend to Saudi Arabia.
When we covered fintech in 2022, it had just raised $ 38 million in prepaid A, and its products were 150,000 customers. Today, Khazna has increased its user base to 500,000. According to the content shared by Saleh at the time, by the end of 2022, the goal by the end of 2022 was half of the two.
The company focuses on workers' income three times less than the minimum wages in Egypt, which provides them with affordable financial tools. About 100,000 users receive salary through Khazna, enabling the company to integrate financial services such as loans and insurance into their payments.
For the remaining 400,000 users, Khazna provides loan services to help performing workers and pensions obtain credit. Omar Saleh, CEO, explained that the company's credit and pension loans that were originally focused on salary supported for salary supported the balance of payments last month.
Omar Saleh, co -founder and CEO, told TechCrunch on the phone. "This is the core product of our journey, and the correct product is very important because it helps us achieve profitability."
Khazna provides other services, such as payment, purchase immediately, paying, medical insurance and rent for rent. However, by embedding itself in wages and loans, it strategically towards a strategic development of mature digital banks that become Egyptian services inadequate services.
But one thing is missing: Unlike traditional banks, Khazna, like many financial technology in Egypt, cannot obtain customer deposits, which makes funds expensive. So far, Khazna has relied on the US dollar (USD) and Egyptian pounds (EGP) to support its loan business by relying on wholesale debt financing.
In order to reduce borrowing costs and provide more affordable loans, Khazna is now working hard to obtain deposit permits in Egypt. The permit will enable startups to accept customer deposits, thereby reducing their capital costs.
"People who change the rules of the game are that we can access user deposits. We have a huge opportunity to occupy part of the market in a more attractive way to make our funds more attractive than today. Different positions.
Khazna's goal is in the middle of 2026. With the Bank of Egypt obtained a bank permit from the Central Bank of Egypt, the bank formulated a regulatory framework for digital banks in July 2024.
However, as the six -year -old fintech began to start from the process, it also carried out attractions on Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, the demand for consumer financing solutions continued to increase. Unlike BNPL players such as Tabby and Tamara (Tamara), focusing on short -term BNPL credit. Khazna hopes to have medium -term credit products (such as earning salary access (EWA), salary support loans and pension credit credit Wait for medium credit products) to distinguish.
Saulh pointed out that Khazna (Khazna) gives priority to another reason for Saudi Arabia is its close connection with Egypt. The Egyptian Sudy Corridor lives in Saudi Arabia nearly 3 million Egyptians. It is one of the world's largest Egyptian remittance corridors. This is an opportunity to provide cross -border financial services. Combine.
According to Saleh, in addition to market size and product fit in Saudi Arabia, Khazna's decision is also driving force. Tadawul is one of the most liquidity and retail investors in the region and has launched IPO several times in the past few years.
Therefore, Khazna plans to have 40 % to 50 % of Saudi business in the next four years, making it qualified to be listed on Tadawul. For early investors who have supported the company for four to five years, Salich said it provided a clear way for high -value exports.
Of course, Khazna will provide funds for this expansion through the recent increase in growth capital. However, in the past two years, the macroeconomic challenges faced by Egypt have established this series of B -round financing.
Between 2022 and 2023, Egypt faced currency depreciation and economic instability, making it more difficult for startups and enterprises to raise funds. The overall slowdown of transaction flow reflects this because investors have taken a cautious attitude towards Egyptian startups. However, in 2024, a major change, economic reform and more flexible exchange rate, more than $ 50 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) flowing into Egypt. As a result, investors' confidence recovered, bringing new interests of investors worldwide and regional.
Therefore, Khazna welcomes participation from new and existing investors, including global investors such as Quona and SpeedInvest, as well as Sanad Msme, Anb SEED FUND (managed by Anb Capital), Aljazira Capital (The Investment) (The Investment) ( Tibas Ventures (The Investment) (The Investment) and other regional financial institutions and investment companies (Turkey's venture capital departments), Khwarizmi Ventures, NCLUDE (Financial Technology Fund established by the largest State Bank in Egypt) and ICU venture capital company and ICU Company and ICU venture capital.