Egypt's Flend secures $3 million seed to expand digital SME financing
The equity was led by Egypt Ventures, with participation from Camel Ventures, Sukna Ventures, Plus VC, Banque Misr, and family offices including El Sewedy and Baalbaki. Debt financing was provided by MSMEDA and local banks.
Founded by Ahmed Zaki, Nehal Helmy and Saif Edeen El Bendari, Flend is an FRA-licensed Digital NBFI, offering fully digital short-term working capital loans to SMEs through embedded finance and direct integration with 20+ supply chain platforms in sectors like agri-food, e-commerce, and healthcare.
The funding will support Flend's goal to inject EGP 1 billion in SME loans within a year, expand its team and partnerships, and enhance its tech infrastructure to close Egypt's $50 billion SME financing gap.
Press release:
Egypt's digital SME lending platform Flend has announced the successful closure of its $3 million seed funding round, a mix of equity and debt. The equity round was led by Egypt Ventures, with participation from Camel Ventures, Sukna Ventures, Plus VC, Banque Misr, and prominent family offices including El Sewedy and Baalbaki. On the debt side, Flend secured funding from MSMEDA and several local banking partners.
Licensed by Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) as a Digital Non-Banking Financial Institution (Digital NBFI), Flend enables fully digital lending for SMEs, from onboarding and credit scoring to disbursement and collections, all through digitally binding contracts.
With over 20 embedded partnerships, Flend integrates directly into platforms that serve SME supply chains across sectors like agri-food, healthcare, e-commerce, manufacturing, retail, and export. The platform plans to inject EGP 1 billion in working capital loans over the coming year, targeting Egypt's $50 billion SME financing gap.
'This round allows us to finance SMEs where they do business—within the platforms that drive Egypt's economy,' said Ahmed Zaki, Co-Founder and CEO of Flend. 'We've seen rising demand and are ready to scale our reach.'
Hasan Haider, Founder and Managing Partner at Plus VC, commented: 'Flend is solving a major regional challenge—making SME finance digital-first, embedded, and accessible.'
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