CASF Invests in Fintech Startup, Finclusion Group
Finclusion Group, a sub-Saharan African fintech platform, has received an undisclosed investment from the Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund (CASF).
CASF’s fourth overall investment and third on the African continent will be made with this investment. CASF is a micro venture capital fund that invests $100,000–$250,000 in post-seed and pre-series A firms in the Middle East and Africa. It was founded in 2020 by the Cairo Angels, Egypt’s first angel investor network.
Since its inception, the fund has invested in three firms in two countries: Egypt’s Nawah Scientific, the United Arab Emirates’ QiDZ App, and, most recently, Kenya’s FlexPay.
The latest startup to join CASF’s portfolio is Finclusion Group. Finclusion Group, a Mauritius-based fintech, was founded in 2019 by Timothy Nuy and Tonderai Mutesva to accelerate financial inclusion in Africa through its neo-bank solutions. Finclusion now provides people and SMEs in South Africa, Eswatini, Namibia, Kenya, and Tanzania with buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services, salary advance programs, lending services, and transactional banking.
According to reports, the company has over 240,000 consumers in its five countries and has disbursed over $310 million in loans since its inception. CASF’s investment is the startup’s third since its inception.
In September 2021, it partnered with Lendable to raise $20 million. Months later, in January 2022, the company announced a $20 million pre-Series A round of hybrid financing sponsored by Future Africa and LeadInvest.
Finclusion will continue to expand its product portfolio with the current investment from CASF as it prepares to enter new markets.
“Our objective is to fund and support exceptional founders building digital platforms to solve vital challenges,” Aly El Shalakany, CEO of the Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund, said of the investment. That is why we decided to invest in Finclusion Group, which provides attractive solutions to underserved consumers who have had little or no access to finance in the past.”
