Saudi wealth fund leads seed round for Egypt fintech: Local fintech platform Neqabty has closed a USD 550k seed funding round led by investment company Sanabil Investments, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund the Public Investment Fund, according to a statement (pdf) by Neqabty. Sanabil, which contributed the majority of the funds, was joined by a Saudi angel investor, Neqabty CEO Mohamed Gamal told Enterprise. Neqabty is raising funds to finance its local and regional expansion plans.

Neqabty: Founded in 2018, Neqabty connects professional syndicates and their members, enabling them to digitally pay for annual syndicate subscriptions and access related services. The platform was part of the LaunchSaaS incubator sponsored by the Suez Canal Bank as part of the NilePreneurs program, which is part-funded by the Central Bank of Egypt.

Big plans abroad: The company has inked an MoU with the syndicate of engineers in Ghana, Gamal said. It’s also in talks to launch in Saudi Arabia and Portugal.

…and at home: Neqabty aims to have onboarded 45% of all Egyptian syndicates to its platform by the end of the year, according to the statement. The company is in talks to enlist the syndicates of commercial professions, lawyers, and applied arts, Gamal said. Groups currently on the platform include the syndicates of engineering, physical therapy, and agriculture.

Not the first time Sanabil has pitched in: Neqabty last year raised USD 100k in seed funding from 500 Global and Sa nabil 500 MENA Seed Acc elerator, a joint initiative by Sanabil and 500 Startups, according to Neqabty’s LinkedIn page.

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