Startupbootcamp, a global accelerator that currently runs 25 programs in 17 cities across the world, including Dubai and Doha, and Pride Capital, a JV between financial investments company Pharos Holding, and angel investment studio Kamelizer, have teamed up to launch the first FinTech focus accelerator program in Egypt.
The program that has been named FinTech Cairo will support early-stage FinTech startups in Egypt, focusing on Financial Inclusion. The program will also help the companies in the fields of Payments, Capital Markets, Insurance, Identity Authentication, SME Lending, Investment, Insurance and Blockchain.
FinTech Cairo will run for six months, which is longer that average duration of accelerator programs in the region, and will offer companies office space, seed funding of $25,000 (EGP 450,000) in exchange of equity, mentorship from over 100 industry including names like Algebra Ventures’ Tarek Assaad, Sawari Venutres’ Wael Amin, RiseUp’s Abdelhameed Sharara, and access to global network of investors and corporate partners from FinTech industry.
Ahmed Elsherif, Startupbootcamp FinTech Cairo’s Managing Director, thinks that there are many entities that are supporting startups with replicated proven business models like delivery, marketplaces and transportation. Not much for the startups going after big unsolved problems though.
“It seems that the market prefers to find business models that are already working and invest in them; there’s nothing wrong with this approach, but I don’t think it works well in an emerging markets ecosystem that presents a clear opportunity in tackling a lot of unsolved problems, such as Financial Inclusion,” he noted.
Rami El-Dokany, co-founder and CEO of Pride Capital, speaking about the funding they will offer, said that they have structured their equity funding to accommodate for different maturity stages of startups, without sharing further details.
In addition to their acceleration program, FinTech Cairo will also support the startups scale their products in collaboration with established players in Cairo during a three-month Proof of Concept phase.
Applications for the Startupbootcamp FinTech Cairo accelerator program are now open with 20th December as the deadline. The program will start from Jan 15 next.
You can learn more details about the program here and apply here.
