Egypt’s MoneyHash acquires pre-seed capital to create payment super API

Cairo-based fintech MoneyHash announced its acquisition of an undisclosed pre-seed investment led by Amir Farha’s COTU Ventures in a statement released on 7 June. 

Kepple Africa Ventures and other angel investors also took part in the round. The Egyptian startup plans to use the funds to further develop its technology, expand its team and launch its services.

The MoneyHash Super API

MoneyHash was founded in 2020 by Nader Abdelrazik, Mustafa Eid, and Anisha Sekar and is currently building a super Application Programming Interface (API). The super API will aggregate payment and fintech solutions, allow merchants to give their customers a unified checkout experience and access reports and data through a central dashboard. 

The super API aggregates payment and fintech solutions and allows users a unified checkout experience

The API is currently being tested in private beta. The startup plans to roll out services over multiple countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region by the end of 2021.

CEO Abdelrazik explains that merchants should have accounts with the payment processor they would like to integrate into their checkout experience. The startup is in the process of partnering with three payment processors, two KYC companies, and an open banking company to facilitate account opening and offer an end-to-end experience to users. Pricing is limited to a subscription plus a microtransaction fee. 

“The Middle East & Africa is one of the fastest-growing regions with a rapidly evolving payment and fintech scene. As many companies in the region and abroad plan their expansion to this part of the world, they are faced with a devastating technical and operational hassle: building a separate connection with each service provider while providing a unified experience for their customers. This results in a complicated tech stack wasting valuable resources with increased vulnerabilities to errors, fraud, and technical debt. MoneyHash’s technology abstracts the complexities of this fragmented market and allows businesses to scale and grow with a complete focus on their product, and without compromising security and efficiency,” says Abdelrazik.

CPO Sekar says, “We are crafting a comprehensive revenue solution built for flexibility and scaling. With a unified checkout experience powered by a single API integration, businesses throughout MENA can instantly access the providers and products they need to grow. We increase speed to market and save weeks of effort upfront, and with a complete view of the revenue stack, we provide insights, automation, and smart routing to save time and money in the long term. Our mission is to build an efficient, secure, comprehensive solution that helps rather than hinders growing businesses.”

Amir Farha, the Managing Partner of COTU Ventures comments: “It’s rare to find such a well-rounded and complete team with deep domain experience and technical prowess so early in a company’s life. We’re very excited to back Nader, Anisha, and Mustafa, as they look to tackle a problem that suits a fragmented region like the Middle East. The clarity with which they articulated their vision and strategy, and the chemistry we felt from the start, convinced us to support them in kick-starting their plans to build a payments super API for the region and beyond. We are grateful they chose us as partners and are looking forward to what’s ahead.”

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Featured image: Nader Abdelrazik, Mustafa Eid, and Anisha Sekar, Founders of MoneyHash (Supplied)