Egyptian fintech startup Raseedi has recently acquired its counterpart Kashat in an equity deal aimed at broadening its product offerings and introducing instant loans to its users. Raseedi, founded in 2018 by Ahmed Atalla and Samuel Samy, provides underbanked users with a dialer application that enables them to make cheaper calls, receive saving tips, make payments, and borrow airtime and pay bills instantly without requiring a credit history.
Kashat, also founded in 2018 by Karim Nour and Sumair Farooqui, specializes in providing small, instant loans to the financially excluded. With this acquisition, Raseedi’s users will now have access to and be able to apply for instant cash loans provided by Pharos Microfinance S.A.E, a subsidiary of Kashat. The combined efforts of Raseedi and Kashat aim to replicate their fully digital financial solutions across Africa and Asia, targeting the underbanked populations in these regions.
Ahmed Atalla, co-founder of Raseedi, expressed his enthusiasm for the acquisition, stating;
Ever since we began our journey to serve underbanked masses, our dream has been to provide a fully rounded fintech solution of payments and lending to millions of underserved individuals. Over the past years, we have built a strong credit scoring algorithm from billions of data points and daily behavior analysis of over one million Raseedi app users.
After achieving double-digit growth in our payments product annually, we are now ready to introduce a new and unprecedented lending product to the market. Imagine applying, completing a fully digital eKYC process, and receiving your cash loan in your wallet within seconds. This milestone allows us to include those who have never had a credit score in Egypt’s financial inclusion movement, which is a top priority for the Egyptian government. We look forward to collaborating with the Kashat team and the FRA on this groundbreaking product.
Karim Nour, co-founder of Kashat, emphasized the significance of the deal in scaling financial inclusion efforts in Egypt and beyond. He stated, “The ability to easily lend money to the masses will be expanded, and Raseedi, along with Kashat through its subsidiary Pharos Microfinance S.A.E., will become Egypt’s only financial service provider to offer nanoloans at scale, specifically designed for this purpose.”
Nour also highlighted the importance of the companies’ expertise in big data and artificial intelligence, noting, “This deal is significant because the companies involved are true big data and AI players, and both are home-grown. It is refreshing to see the creation of a center of excellence in the delivery of innovative financial services and AI. We are excited about the future possibilities for Raseedi and Kashat, both in Egypt and across the region.”
