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Cairo-based FinTech Dayra has won $15,000 grant from Y Combinator’s Startup School, becoming the first startup from the Middle East & North Africa to win a spot at the coveted accelerator.
Three startups from the region made it to Y Combinator’s current accelerator batch that YC will reveal at its demo day in March 2020 – good few months for MENA at YC.
Founded earlier this year by Hesham Ghandour, Mohammed Ennabah, Abdelrahman Rizq, Dayra’s mobile app allows users to connect to their bank accounts and transfer money to any bank account in Egypt almost instantly. It claims that it is the fastest and cheapest solution (10x cheaper than the alternatives) to transferring money to a bank account in Egypt. With the app, the users also have the option to see all their bank accounts in one place.
It makes money by charging users a fee that’s nominal compared to what the banks in the country charge for interbank transfers.
Hesham Ghandour, the founder and CEO of Dayra, who has previously built and led some other startups as well, speaking to MENAbytes about winning the grant, said, “The YC grant is nice of course. It’s not about the money though. The amount is too small to make a huge difference. But it has given us a nice boost of confidence. The most important thing, however, is that users really want what we are building. That remains our biggest motivation.”
Speaking about their plans for the next few months, Hesham said that they will continue to focus on improving the user experience.
He also said that they will soon start fundraising to support their growth plans.
