Egypt-based fintech Menthum has raised pre-Seed funding from Acasia Ventures, along with A15 and other angel investors.
Founded in 2021 by Himanshu Shrimali and Ismail Sarhank, Menthum is a B2B and B2C digital savings platform that provides individuals and companies an innovative way to invest in safe treasury bills (T-bills) through a money market fund. Licensed and regulated by Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), Menthum has launched the first digital money market fund in the country, partnering with a leading investment manager.
Egyptians typically have very limited access to traditional money market funds due to the complexity involved with using those channels. There are many different ways that friction manifests itself, including the need to visit (always crowded) physical bank branches, poor customer service and hand-holding, longer purchase/redeemation cycles with strict time windows, the requirement to open an account at the bank in order to purchase the fund, high minimum investment requirements, banks’ (occasionally) inability to accept new funds due to regulatory ceilings, etc. With its cutting-edge technology and creative process design, Menthum reinvented the money market fund and made it simple and available to everyone. Menthum has positioned the secure money market fund as a preferable alternative to traditional bank accounts for both individuals and corporations because to high returns, fast liquidity, and a user-friendly mobile application.
Menthum has devised an easy-to-use mobile application and a customer-centric approach. Individuals sign up on the Menthum mobile app using their mobile number and scan their National ID, the app fetches the ID data automatically. After the Menthum team completes the KYC review process, the account is activated. The customers can add money to their Menthum account by transferring money from their account from any bank in Egypt. There’s no minimum amount restriction: customers can start with as little as one Egyptian pound. They can withdraw money any time from Menthum and transfer it back to their bank account, without any lock-in period. Money in a Menthum account is invested in a safe money market fund with returns that are almost twice as high as those of a typical savings bank account.
The platform also enables small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as large corporations to invest in its money market fund, facilitating a better way to enhance their yield on their working capital.
“We are excited to invest in the company that’s paving a fresh way to money for Egypt,” Acasia Ventures Managing Partner Aly El Shalakany said. “Given Menthum’s solid team, the traction it has gained so far and its visionary roadmap, we firmly believe that the company could reshape the concept of savings tools in the country and tangibly contribute to Egypt’s financial inclusion mandate while providing alternative savings vehicles to a wide range of customer segments.”
“The people behind Acasia Ventures have been the founding pillars of the startup ecosystem in Egypt,” Shrimali stated. “We are looking forward to leveraging their intricate knowledge of the scene and industry, as well as their portfolio companies to join hands with like-minded partners to make a positive impact.”
The funding will go towards expanding Menthum’s team across various functions, customer acquisition, brand building and developing the company’s tech infrastructure.
