Egypt’s super app MNT-Halan raises $120 million

MNT-Halan, Egypt’s leading fintech ecosystem, announced today a circa $120 million investment by major global and regional growth investors: Apis Growth Fund II, Development Partners International (DPI), and Lorax Capital Partners. In addition, the company has also attracted venture capital backing from Middle East Venture Partners, Endeavor Catalyst, and DisruptTech. This round of investment demonstrates confidence in the fintech opportunity in Egypt and further institutionalises the capitalisation table of MNT-Halan. Previous investors of MNT-Halan have included GB Capital, DPI, Algebra Ventures, Wamda, Nowaisi Capital, Unidelta, Egypt Ventures, Battery Road Digital Holdings, and Shaka VC.

Capitalising on MNT-Halan’s first mover advantage, proprietary and highly scalable tech capabilities and strong brand in Egypt, this funding endorses its strategy to drive further innovation in its technology, product development, scale to tens of millions of customers, and expand cross-border. The investment also recognises the scale and long-term potential of MNT-Halan, which has been granted micro, consumer and nano finance licenses from the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority, as well as the first independent electronic wallet license from the Central Bank of Egypt.

Committed to bringing seamless financial services to the unbanked and underserved customers in Egypt and the surrounding region, MNT-Halan has developed its scalable proprietary fintech ecosystem in-house, connecting customers, vendors and micro-enterprises through its consumer-facing app, merchant app, Halan Neuron (distributed lending and payment processing software) and payment solutions (wallets and cards).

More than 70 per cent of the population of Egypt’s young and fast-growing population of over 100 million is financially underserved and overlooked by traditional financial institutions, yet mobile penetration exceeds 90 per cent. MNT-Halan’s digital solutions, including lending, BNPL, e-commerce, payments, and on-demand logistics, support its mission to empower underserved communities, address inequality and female economic participation. With c.1 million monthly active users, MNT-Halan serves more than 4 million customers in Egypt, of which 3.1 million are financial clients and 1.8 million are borrowers. The company has disbursed more than $1.7 billion of loans. Its monthly throughput exceeds $100 million which has grown over 20x in the past five years.

Commenting on the investment, Matteo Stefanel and Udayan Goyal, Managing Partners and Apis Partners Co-founders, said, “We are thrilled to be investing in MNT-Halan, which is our first investment in Egypt. Our belief is that they will be the leading player digitising the unbanked and bringing financial services to millions of underserved customers in the country, and we look forward to partnering with them to extend their impressive growth trajectory. We believe Mounir Nakhla’s track record, combined with MNT-Halan’s tech team and operational expertise, provide the ideal opportunity to invest in Egypt’s fintech sector.”

DPI Partner Sofiane Lahmar said: “Since our partnership with Mounir and his team dating to 2018, MNT-Halan has rapidly evolved into a market-leading financial technology business, working to drive entrepreneurship and economic development in critically underserved markets. The company is well-positioned to benefit from Egypt and the region’s favourable demographics and rising adoption of digital technologies in its next growth phase. Our ADP III investment in MNT-Halan reaffirms our belief in the management team, and our commitment to the company and its long-term growth prospects, as we continue our focus on investing in high-growth, impact-driven companies from Africa’s fast-growing middle class.”

Dr Raouf Ghabbour, Executive Chairman of GB Auto, the parent company of GB Capital, said, “Since GB Capital first supported Nakhla, the business has delivered on its strategy and has become the prime market player. MNT-Halan has huge potential and we are very excited to welcome these sophisticated investors with deep fintech and emerging markets expertise into our capital structure, laying the foundation for explosive growth in Egypt and beyond.”

MNT-Halan Founder and CEO, Mounir Nakhla, said, “We are at the forefront of the digital revolution sweeping across Egypt, bringing together the unbanked population with our technology. We are on track to bring financial inclusion to tens of millions of Egyptians. As a result, we will unleash this segment’s earnings potential and drive greater participation in the economy.”

The investor group includes:

Apis Growth Fund II, a London based private equity fund managed by Apis Partners LLP, an ESGI-native private equity firm that specializes in financial services. MNT-Halan represents Apis Partners’ first investment in Egypt;

African Development Partners III (ADP III), a London based private equity fund advised by Development Partners International (DPI), is one of the most active private equity investors in Egypt and Africa with four investments made to date in Egypt. DPI, through a predecessor fund to ADP III was an anchor investor in MNT-Halan in 2018;

Lorax Fund II, a private equity fund managed by Lorax Capital Partners, an Egypt-focused investment firm with an unmatched record of investing in high-growth opportunities;

The largest venture capitalists in Egypt and the region, including Algebra Ventures, DisrupTech, Endeavor Catalyst, Egypt Ventures, MEVP, and Wamda, in addition to the backing of Nowaisii Capital, Shaka Capital, Uber’s founding CTO Oscar Salazar, Unidelta, and Battery Road Digital Holdings.

White & Case, Freshfields, Lexence, and Mattouk Bassiouny & Hennawy served as legal advisors on the transaction.