Egyptian financial management platform Swpex raises $4m Seed round

💸 Say hello to Swypex! An Egyptian fintech providing an all-in-one financial management platform that consolidates payments, invoice management, and smart corporate cards.

And they just secured a $4 million Seed funding round!

• Founded in early 2022 by Ahmad Mokhtar, Tarek Mokhtar and Sasan Hezarkhani, Swypex spent its initial year on licensing and regulatory compliance before launching a beta version to 100 customers in December.

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💰 Investor lowdown: The round led by venture capital fund Accel, with participation from Foundation Ventures, The Raba Partnership, and angel investors.

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📈 State of play

In Egypt, card usage has increased by 14% over the last four years, with over 30 million cards now in circulation, driven by fintech and bank incentives. Prepaid cards are particularly popular, surpassing debit and credit cards combined.

However, corporate card adoption has lagged due to limited access and inadequate controls.

Traditionally, it was banks that played the role of primary provider of corporate cards across the country; however, fintech companies are now stepping up to the plate to increase adoption.

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🚫 The problem

According to the UNDP, 3.8 million businesses are battling with inflexible financial systems, leading to inefficient processes and reduced control.

These issues, along with employee fraud causing an average 5% annual revenue loss, have prompted the CBE launch a wave of regulations and initiatives to transition businesses away from cash and onto digital payment rails. These are now coming into force and providing additional tailwinds for financial innovation.

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“We realised there were specific pains shared that haven’t been met for the last decade or two, like businesses predominantly using cash and losing visibility over their money or using banking services that were a little bit archaic, so they had to visit the banks a lot to sign physical papers and documents to get things moving for their businesses.”

Ahmad Mokhtar, CEO

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⚙️ Break it down

Swypex offers businesses "unlimited" corporate cards with smart spending controls like customisable limits and permissions for ATM and online transactions.

• Employees can upload transaction documents into a centralised dashboard that integrates government e-invoicing data and connects with ERP and accounting software, thus providing a comprehensive and streamlined overview of all expenses in one location.

The platform also allows businesses to view analytics on spending distribution by department, merchant, individual, and category, enabling more data-driven decisions with real-time visibility.

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🔮 Flashforward

Sypex will use the fresh funds to launch its operations in the Egyptian market, in fact, Egyptian businesses can open a Swypex account today and get three free cards!