MoneyHash, based in Egypt and the United States, has exited beta with $3 million in pre-seed funding. The startup bills itself as the “first super-API for payment orchestration and revenue operations” in the Middle East and Africa.
MoneyHash reported an undisclosed six-figure investment in June from investors including Ventures Platform, Kepple Africa Ventures, LoftyInc Capital, and lead COTU Ventures.
This extension was similarly headed by the Middle Eastern early-stage fund, with participation from earlier backers in the pre-seed round as well as others such as VentureSouq, VentureFriends, The Continent Venture Partners, and First Check Africa.
Tim Chen of NerdWallet, Jake Gibson of Belvo, and Oriol Tintore of Belvo are among the angel investors.
MoneyHash was formed in late 2020 by Nader Abdelrazik, Mustafa Eid, and Anisha Sekar, who have a combined experience of over 30 years working for firms such as Microsoft, UpWork, NerdWallet, and Sigfig.
MoneyHash sits on top of payment processors, providing infrastructure as an extension of their product backends. This add-on becomes their link to the full payment ecosystem in the markets where they do business.
MoneyHash launched in Egypt in early 2021, allowing 17 firms to join to its API and use payment gateways such as Fawry, Paymob, and PayTabs through its sandbox environment.
After the beta, MoneyHash will integrate with a variety of Middle East and North African payment gateways and processors. Checkout, Stripe, Ayden, Amazon Pay, Tap, and ValU are just a few.
Integration with payment providers in Sub-Saharan Africa (primarily serving Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa) such as Yoco, Paystack, and Flutterwave would follow suit, according to the CEO, who did not specify when the product would be available in the region.
MoneyHash’s clientele come from a variety of industries, including e-commerce, travel & tourism, and remittances, to name a few.
With a few clicks, they can integrate payment providers, incorporate a single checkout system, and use micro-services like transaction routing, subscription management, and invoicing on the platform.
Five of the 17 companies who tried out its sandbox for free are now paying customers. MoneyHash bills these businesses $150 to $1,000 per month, depending on how many payment providers they connect to.
The platform also charges transaction fees, which start at ten cents and decrease as the number of payments increases.
Abdelrazik said MoneyHash aspires to become the AWS. of payments in the Middle East and Africa.
“We believe the payment business, particularly in emerging economies, is fragmented and need an AWS for money, which MoneyHash provides when you connect with it and construct as much as you want.”
MoneyHash plans to use the capital to accelerate its expansion throughout the Middle East and Africa, according to a release.
The company also intends to grow its staff, which presently numbers 15 people spread across the United States, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, and portions of Europe, by hiring mid-level and senior software developers.
In a statement, Amir Farha, creator of lead investor COTU Ventures, said, “MoneyHash is driven by three extraordinary entrepreneurs with extensive knowledge of payments and acumen for product-led execution.”
“They’re drawing a strong team of talent, and their product is ready for prime time following an amazing beta run.” We’re thrilled to be a part of their adventure.”
