In Egypt, millions of people rely on informal, trust-based savings circles known as “gam’eya.” It’s a centuries-old system: a group of people contributes a fixed sum each month, and each month, a different member takes the entire pot. It’s a cornerstone of community finance, but it’s analogue, inefficient, and limited by social circles.
Cairo-based Money Fellows, founded in 2017 by Ahmed Wadi, set out to digitise this entire process. Seven years later, the company has processed over $1.5 billion in transactions, registered more than 8 million application downloads, and, most notably in the current fintech climate, has achieved profitability.
The company’s model is attracting significant investor interest in a tight market. It has raised just over $60 million to date, including a recent $13 million pre-Series C round led by Casablanca-based Al Mada Ventures and Egypt’s Nclude Fund. This new capital is earmarked for regional expansion, starting with Morocco.
“We have now proven that customers actually need the product we offer to solve an existing problem,” says Ahmed Wadi, founder and CEO of Money Fellows. “We were able to reach more than 8 million customers who downloaded the application… and more than a million customers we were able to serve.”
The Path to Profitability
While many fintechs, particularly in the lending space, burn cash to acquire users and fund loans, Money Fellows reached profitability a few months ago by adopting a different strategy.
“Many companies were seeking rapid growth, but our vision from the beginning was to grow consciously without compromising profitability and to ensure continuity,” Wadi explains. “We always control our burning versus growth, so we can ensure continuity.”
The core of this “conscious growth” is a low-capital-intensity model. Unlike ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ (BNPL) providers or digital lenders that finance loans from their own balance sheets, Money Fellows acts as a digital trustee and matchmaker. The capital for the savings circles is provided almost entirely by the users themselves.
The platform digitises the traditional Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA), using credit scoring and behavioural analytics to vet users and organise them into digital “circles.” When a circle is under-filled, Money Fellows may step in to finance the missing slot, enabling the rest of the group to function.
However, according to the company, less than 8% of its active ROSCA slots require this capital injection. This means the vast majority of lending risk is distributed across the user base, not centralised on the company’s books, allowing it to scale with minimal debt and a clear path to positive unit economics.
“We position ourselves in a different position [from consumer finance],” Wadi notes. “Our clients plan more broadly and have a clear vision for their needs. We help people save and plan their financial goals throughout the year.”
From Grey Area to Regulatory Sandbox
One of the biggest hurdles was not technology, but regulation. The ‘gam’eya’ exists in an informal, grey market.
“One of the biggest challenges we faced was the idea of operating without a clear license,” says Wadi. “We had to secure a license with the Central Bank, as opposed to obtaining a ready-made license. This makes a difference in bank financing and customer security.”
This effort culminated in Money Fellows being accepted into the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) Regulatory Sandbox. This move legitimised the model and paved the way for key partnerships, such as the launch of a prepaid card in cooperation with Banque Misr, one of Egypt’s largest state-owned banks.
The card allows users to easily pay installments or receive their payouts, integrating the digital circles directly into the formal financial ecosystem. The platform now serves 350,000 active users every month.
Why Investors Are Backing the Model
For investors like Al Mada Ventures, Money Fellows’ appeal lies in its disciplined execution and its modernisation of an ancient, trusted financial system.
“ROSCA’s are very old financial arrangements… AMV was impressed by the modernized version of this business that MoneyFellows has built,” said Omar Laalej, Managing Director at Al Mada Ventures, in a statement following the recent funding. “The complexity and sophistication of their platform sets them apart globally.”
Investors point to three key factors:
- A De-Risked Model: With users funding the vast majority of the transactions, the company is shielded from the high default risks and capital demands that plague traditional lenders.
- Proven Profitability: Achieving profitability in Egypt, a market where many fintechs struggle to break even, demonstrates the model’s sustainability.
- Scalability: The ROSCA concept is not unique to Egypt. Similar informal savings systems exist across Africa (like “daret” in Morocco or “ajo” in Nigeria) and Asia, making the company’s playbook highly replicable.
Next Stop: Morocco
Money Fellows is now preparing to replicate its success outside of Egypt, launching in Morocco in the first quarter of next year.
“Morocco is a sparse market… The market there is very open, and we are partnering with the largest bank in Morocco,” Wadi says, referring to a new partnership with Attijariwafa Bank. “Expanding in Morocco will be a gateway to expanding in Africa.”
The company is also preparing for a larger Series C round next year to fuel this expansion and broaden its product suite, with plans to move closer to a digital bank model by introducing investments, payroll, and insurance products.
“This was the goal from the beginning,” Wadi reflects. “The vision was clear: the market is very large, both in Egypt and globally. I saw that the market held opportunities worth billions of dollars.”