One-month old Egyptian digital bank, Telda, announced that it has raised $5 million in a pre-seed round led by Sequoia Capital, Berlin-based Global Founders Capital (GFC); and Class 5 Global.
Founded in April by CEO Ahmed Sabbah and CTO Youssef Sholqamy, Telda is targeting the Gen Z in Egypt’s 100 million people. The bank offers Zero fees and a completely online onboarding experience via its app where customers can signup for an account using their phone number and National ID card. Customers are expected to get the debit card at their doorstep as soon as possible.
Before Telda, Sabbah was Egypt’s ride-hailing company Swvl as the co-founder and CTO while Sholqamy was a former senior engineer in Uber’s infrastructure team.
Telda claims that it is the first company to receive a license from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) under its new regulations to issue cards and onboard customers digitally.
The bank expects to fast-track its card production and distribution with this new funding. Telda says it already has over 30,000 signups, with half of that already asking for cards.
This investment is Sequoia’s first venture in MENA and the wider GCC region. Eight years ago, Sequoia invested in a Brazilian digital bank, Nubank. Nubank is the world’s largest digital bank with more than 38 million customers and a $25 billion valuation.
George Robson, the Sequoia partner who led the investment in Telda sees many parallels between Brazil and Egypt, “Both countries boast a large, young, talented and tech-savvy population with a strong appetite to innovate. We are delighted to partner with Telda and earmark our first investment in the region,” he said in a statement.
According to GFC partner Roel Janssen in a statement, “We are highly impressed by Sabbah and Sholqamy and love their vision for building the region’s leading digital banking app, and we are proud to be part of their journey. It is GFC’s first investment in Egypt, and we see that Egypt has the potential to become an important hub in the global tech ecosystem.”
Class 5 global managing partner Youcef Oudjidane said, “Money has become a medium of self-expression — a form of identity — not solely a store of value. Telda has done a remarkable job of embedding their culture and values in the product, in both functionality and design.”
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