When Egypt’s leading buy-now, pay-later provider Valu announced a partnership this week to finance electric vehicle charging, the move looked modest on the surface: instalment payments for home chargers and public charging sessions. In reality, it underscored a broader strategic bet — one that has helped the fintech scale in a market where consumer credit remains both constrained and volatile.
The agreement with Infinity, the country’s largest renewable energy company and operator of Egypt’s biggest EV charging network, allows Valu customers to spread the cost of home chargers and charging sessions over several months, including zero-interest promotional offers. Infinity operates more than 250 charging stations and 850 charging points across 18 governorates, making it the most extensive network in a country where EV adoption remains nascent but politically encouraged.
The partnership was announced at the “Electric Vehicles Get Electrified!” exhibition in Cairo, against a backdrop of government commitments to reduce fuel imports and encourage local EV assembly. For Valu, however, the deal is less about green credentials than about distribution.
BNPL Meets Infrastructure
Valu’s entry into EV charging reflects a familiar pattern. Rather than betting on new products, the company has repeatedly embedded its financing tools into existing consumer touchpoints — from retail checkouts to school fees, medical bills and, increasingly, infrastructure-linked services.
Under the Infinity partnership, Valu customers can pay for public charging via Infinity’s mobile app, while home chargers are offered with instalment plans that reduce upfront costs. Promotional incentives — including cashback and interest-free periods — are designed to lower friction in a category that remains expensive relative to average incomes.
Still, EV penetration in Egypt remains limited. According to industry estimates, electric vehicles account for a tiny fraction of annual car sales, constrained by high import costs and limited local manufacturing. That makes near-term transaction volumes uncertain.
What Valu appears to be buying instead is optionality: an early foothold in a sector likely to benefit from policy support, while reinforcing its broader thesis that consumer finance can ride on top of physical infrastructure.
A Capital-Intensive Model — Backed by the Markets
The expansion comes as Valu continues to lean heavily on capital markets to fund growth. Earlier this month, the company closed its 20th securitised bond issuance, raising EGP 1.1bn ($23.1m) under a new EGP 10bn programme arranged by EFG Hermes.
The bonds, backed by Valu’s receivables portfolio, were split into two fixed-rate tranches with maturities of 12 and 18 months. The deal reflects how BNPL providers in emerging markets increasingly rely on structured finance rather than deposits to scale.
For Valu, securitisation has become routine rather than exceptional. Since its launch in 2017, the company has repeatedly returned to the debt markets, even as global investors have grown more cautious about consumer credit businesses.
“The continued issuance suggests confidence in asset quality,” our analyst noted. “But it also highlights how dependent the model is on refinancing.”
That dependence matters. Across Africa, several BNPL players have struggled as funding costs rose and default risks became harder to price. Kenya’s Lipa Later collapsed earlier this year after failing to stabilise its balance sheet — an episode that sharpened investor scrutiny of the sector.
Distribution as a Defensive Moat
Valu’s defence against those pressures has been distribution. Since its early days as an internal venture within EFG Hermes, the company has pursued partnerships across nearly every major consumer category in Egypt.
Retail remains the core. “Pay with Valu” is integrated into platforms such as Amazon Egypt, Jumia and noon, as well as physical chains including LuLu Hypermarket and discount grocer Kazyon. A partnership with Majid Al Futtaim’s mall portfolio alone has generated more than EGP 1bn in BNPL sales, according to company disclosures.
Beyond retail, Valu has embedded financing into education fees at institutions such as the American University in Cairo, healthcare services at private hospitals, real estate-related spending, and even sports club memberships.
This breadth has allowed Valu to smooth demand cycles and diversify risk across income brackets and spending categories. It has also made the brand unusually visible in a market where formal credit penetration remains low.
“The strategy is less about innovation and more about saturation,” our analyst added. “Valu shows up everywhere.”
The move into EV charging fits neatly into that logic. Charging stations are recurring, predictable points of payment — exactly the kind of environment where instalment finance can be quietly layered on top.
From Incubator to Public Market
Valu’s scale would have been difficult to achieve without its origins inside EFG Hermes, one of the region’s largest investment banks. Launched in late 2017 with an initial EGP 250m investment, the company benefited from balance sheet support, regulatory experience and early access to merchants.
That institutional backing culminated in Valu’s listing on the Egyptian Exchange earlier this year — making it the country’s first consumer fintech to go public. The shares surged sharply on debut, a rare bright spot in an otherwise subdued local market.
For EFG Hermes, the listing validated a long-running experiment in corporate incubation. For Valu, it added a new layer of scrutiny.
Public investors will be watching closely how the company balances growth with credit discipline, particularly as it moves into sectors — like EV infrastructure — where consumer demand is still forming rather than proven.