Egypt’s fintech startup, Lucky has closed a $25 million series A round.
The round was led by Nclude by Global Ventures , a leading Middle East and North Africa (MENA) focused venture capital firm. Featured in the fundraise also are PayU, Endeavor Catalyst, Disruptech Ventures and other new and existing partners.
With this investment, Lucky will increase its market leadership, expand current offering and build out Lucky’s credit capabilities.
Lucky was founded in 2018 by Momtaz Moussa and Ayman Essawy to provide seamless financial flexibility to MENA’s market. The app seeks to transform how the MENA market saves, spends and pays by delivering financial solutions to the largely underbanked population in Egypt.
It does this by connecting them to a growing range of easy-to-use credit pproducts, discounts and cashback rewards. These digital rewards and incentives dovetail neatly to Lucky’s original plan – expand and empower.
According to Lucky, it recorded a 250% year-on-year growth in gross merchandise value. The startup also said that it serves over 8 million strong active customers dispersed across the MENA region. Lucky recently expanded to Morocco and is growing rapidly as it seeks to explore further regional expansion.
Since the launch of its app, Lucky has had over 5 million downloads on playstore and has won an App Store award from Apple for best apps in Egypt.
Momtaz Moussa, co-founder of Lucky, said “MENA region’s huge unbanked, young population and cash-dominated economy is a significant market opportunity for us.”
According to Global Findex, the Middle East is home to 85 million of the world’s 2 billion unbanked adults. There are over 44 million unbanked adults living in Egypt alone. Home to nearly 100 million people, Egypt is the most populous nation in the Middle East and North Africa, and a huge market with considerable scope for new IT and telecoms services.
“Lucky is a prime example of Egyptian fintech innovation that delivers a differentiated and scalable customer experience. Momtaz and Ayman’s vision really resonated with us and we are excited to support them on their mission,” Eslam Darwish, General Partner of the Nclude FinTech Fund said.
