Investment firm A15 funds Egyptian 'buy now, pay later' service Sympl
A15 Venture Capital, a Cairo-based venture capital firm, has established itself as a leading promoter of entrepreneurship and innovation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a particular focus on Egypt's burgeoning FinTech sector.
The firm has made over 30 investments in the MENA region, including Egypt, and has a history of generating value for FinTech startups. A15 provides capital investment, knowledge, and experience to its portfolio companies, working closely with founders to generate value across different channels, such as operational support, product development, and future funding strategies.
One of A15's recent investments is in Sympl, an Egyptian startup aiming to disrupt the consumer payments sector. Karim Beshara, General Partner at A15, expressed excitement about partnering with Sympl from the early stages and looking forward to continued collaboration. Mohamed Elfeky, CEO of Sympl, acknowledged A15's crucial role in the startup's early success, particularly in product development, tech integrations, and connections to their startup ecosystem.
A15's partnership with Sympl has also helped in the development and launch of the Sympl checkout platform.
In Egypt, A15 has been notably active and successful in the FinTech sector. For instance, the firm has backed Flend, a fully digital SME finance platform in Egypt, which raised $3 million in seed funding. A15's investment in Flend supports its mission to close a $50 billion SME credit gap through technology-driven working capital loans.
Other investments by A15 in Egypt include Paymob, a payments platform operating across the Middle East and Africa, handling millions of transactions, and Sehatech, an Egyptian health insurtech startup. A15's investment in Sehatech helped expand the company’s operations. Although not purely a FinTech, Nowlun, an Egyptian logistics startup, also received funding from A15, reflecting the firm’s broader tech investment strategy in Egypt.
A15 has demonstrated strong fund performance, recently hitting a 10x DPI (Distributions to Paid-In capital), an indicator of significant returns. It has achieved full fund returns from successful exits such as TPAY Mobile and Connect Ads, underlining its capability in identifying and scaling high-potential companies in the region.
In September 2018, A15 sold a 76% stake in its FinTech portfolio company, TPAY, to Helios Investment Partners, marking the first fund to create a 'Dragon' (an exit that returns the value of the entire fund through the realized proceeds from a single investment) in the MENA region.
In summary, A15 Capital plays a vital role in nurturing FinTech startups in Egypt by providing capital, strategic support, and market access, with a proven ability to generate impactful exits and scale innovative financial technology solutions in the MENA ecosystem.
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