Egypt’s NowPay raises $600,000 seed to offer salary advances to corporate employees

NowPay, a Cairo-based fintech startup has raised $600,000 in seed funding from Endure Capital and 500 Startups, the startup announced in a statement to MENAbytes. The investment was raised earlier this year but has been announced today.

Founded last year by Mostafa Ashour, Ahmed Sabry, and Cherif Radi, who have previously worked for companies like Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, and Orange, NowPay had come out of stealth mode to launch earlier this year. The Cairo-based startup partners with employers to help their employees get their salaries in advance at any point during the month.

The employees can request the advance by simply logging in NowPay’s app through their corporate account (after their account has been validated by their employer) and entering the advance amount. They can also see details like their salary, balance and maximum loan they can request, on the app. The requested amount is transferred to employee’s bank account within a day or two.

NowPay then, before the end of each month, sends the details of advances requested by all the employees of a company to their HR. The HR deducts these amounts (which also include a small fee for NowPay) from the salaries and transfers the money to NowPay.

Mostafa, who previously led Innovation teams at Microsoft Research, in a conversation with MENAbytes, explained, “We are looking to build a financial-wellness solution for employees along these four pillars: saving, spending, budgeting, and borrowing. The first services that we are offering is salary advances to help with any financial problems an employee might find himself in.”

The solution aims to help employees better manage their budgets, overcome cash flow problems and avoid unexpected events.

Mostafa in a statement explained that in order to reduce money worries, lower financial stress and cut down attrition rates, employees need to feel that they can get their salaries whenever they are cash-strapped and that’s where NowPay comes in.

Mostafa in his conversation with MENAbytes also said that they are currently rolling out features that optimize user’s spending and make the whole process of payment more convenient.

NowPay is currently raising a Pre-Series A round and has plans to expand to different Middle Eastern & African markets within the next two years with UAE & Saudi on top of that list.

Mostafa did not share the numbers of employers using its service in Egypt but said that they’re currently experiencing a nearly doubling MoM growth rate.

Earlier this year, FlexxPay, a Dubai-based startup with a similar service had raised a seven-figure investment.