As homegrown digital investment platform Thndr gears up to further expand across the GCC, we sat down with CEO Ahmad Hammouda (Linkedin) to talk about the startup’s narrative for stepping into the UAE and Saudi Arabia, as well as its plans for Egypt, which include a real estate fund and potential EGX listing.

Today, the platform boasts 500k funded accounts, including over 400k investors placing EGP 8 bn into mutual funds. In terms of user demographics, 80% are first-time investors and half are located outside Cairo and Alexandria.

The narrative for expanding into the GCC

Expanding to broaden retail access to the region’s capital markets: “Our expansion into the UAE and Saudi Arabia is rooted in the fact that only about 3% of people in the MENA region are investing — a deeply under-penetrated market with massive upside,” Hammouda said. He added that the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) “in particular is underrated and has shown exceptional long-term performance.” Hammouda also explained that the market in Saudi Arabia is well-positioned for Thndr’s entry with the “adoption of investing [amongst individual investors] rapidly growing thanks to market reforms and youthful demand.”

Progress so far: Thndr now holds an ADGM Category 3A license and received the first-ever remotebrokerage license from ADX. This remote license grants it full brokerage membership without requiring a physical branch in Abu Dhabi. Thndr is currently in the process of securing a license in Saudi Arabia.

What’s new for Thndr at home?

Earlier this month, Thndr obtained asset management and portfolio management licenses from the Financial Regulatory Authority, which Hammouda said Thndr will use to design its own funds “with the everyday [retail] investor in mind, not institutions.”

Hammouda framed this as part of a broader mission: Moving from “access to agency.” “The first thing we did was open the door to a very exclusive club [distributing the funds to retail investors],” he said. “Now, we’re designing the menu, the experience, and the products for everyday investors.”

The first product under the fresh licenses will be a real estate fund, Hammouda revealed, explaining that Thndr is “after income-yielding real estate, [allowing investors to] get an annual yield, and also a hedge.” Unlike other platforms, Thndr’s approach is property-by-property — investors will know exactly which property they are investing in and the income it generates, rather than buying exposure to an entire portfolio.

Meet ThndrX + Alpha — two new products which Thndr has launched recently. For the “serious investors” — a segment Hammouda estimates at 25% to 30% of the user base — the company offers ThndrX. This product targets those who view investing as a “craft” or a “new profession” and are willing to put in the “time and effort to understand and to learn.” It provides the technical tools required to “spot opportunities that no one is seeing” and conduct deep research. Hammouda notes that for this type of user, ThndrX allows him to act like professionals who might “work in the bank in the morning” but return home to “his screens, start doing his research, build his thesis.”

Hammouda describes Alpha as a “portfolio builder” designed specifically for newcomers and “lifestyle investors” who might otherwise be overwhelmed by the market. The product functions by asking users three simple questions to gauge their goals, timeline, and emotional resilience, specifically asking, “Do you get very stressed or can you actually withstand” market volatility. Based on these inputs, Alpha guides the user toward a diversified allocation — for example, advising “50% in equities... 30% in a fixed income fund, and then... 20% in gold.” He envisions Alpha evolving via AI into a tool that can “understand your financial reality” through conversation, such as knowing a user has two kids or plans to send them to schools.

No EGX listing in the cards for 2026

“100% I want to go public, but not next year,” he said, stressing that the goal isn’t an exit or quick capital, but building a business that can deliver lasting value.

On what will make Thndr IPO-ready, Hammouda was clear — the focus is on users, not fundraising. “Our target is 10 mn Egyptians investing, and replicating our success in the UAE and Saudi,” he said. “When we achieve that scale and impact, we’ll be ready to go public.”

Asked why list in Egypt rather than larger markets like Tadawul or ADX, he reaffirmed his commitment to the local market. “Saudi and the UAE are great, but Egypt is at least as great. We can even do a dual listing. We’re very committed to Egypt.” On timing, he confirmed that they are looking to go public in the next five years.

Thndr is playing the long game

While it might seem natural to assume Thndr would focus on transaction fees — since they come from frequent trades — Hammouda sees things differently. He wants the emphasis to shift toward subscriptions. “I don’t want to see more trades,” he said. “I want to see better trades from my users. The goal is not to make people trade more — it’s to help them trade smarter.”

Currently, transaction fees remain the largest revenue source, but maybe not for long, he said. Subscriptions start at EGP 250 a month, and while subscribers get their first 50 trades at no cost, non-subscribers pay 0.1% per transaction.

Thndr’s long-term focus is why subscribers get their first 50 trades at zero cost, and why the platform encourages lifestyle investors to use mutual funds. While individual stocks can generate more revenue, Hammouda is focused on helping users trade smarter. “We want to make money from users over the next five years, not just the next three months,” he said, emphasizing education and sustainable trading as the core of Thndr’s strategy.

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