Egypt’s first fintech unicorn emerges from the toughest fundraising environment since the financial crisis  

Challenge 

Egyptian financial super app, MNT-Halan, offers a range of services including micro-SME lending, payments and BNPL to digitally bank the unbanked. Having received start-up funding from one of Egypt’s largest conglomerates, the company was focused on diversifying its capitalisation table and attracting new regional, and international investors. The challenge was to achieve this against a backdrop of a massive downturn of VC funding, with down-rounds the order of the day, exits dropping and M&A sinking 37% and a miserable near-term economic outlook. Eterna’s role was to build MNT-Halan’s strategic investment case to US and European investors, in order to attract new funding.  

Approach 

Our strategy was threefold: bring clarity to the product and value proposition by explaining the relatively technical concept of a super app, focus on financial inclusion by emphasising the cash-based and under-banked emerging economy, and make the investment case by demonstrating near-term certainty through, promoting MNT-Halan’s profitability, unit economics and ability generate cash today.  We delivered the strategy through a regular drumbeat of business profiles, including features in the Financial Times, The Banker, and investor-targeted publications such as TechCrunch and Quartz. A steady flow of announcements maintained momentum, and partnerships, such as one with the United Nation’s Women Empowerment Principles, underlined MNT-Halan’s commitment to financial inclusion.  

Impact 

In February 2023, MNT-Halan raised over $400m of new equity and debt financing. It was the largest fundraising in the Middle East in the past 12 months and made MNT-Halan Egypt’s first unicorn. This investment came less than a year since the company raised an additional $120m. The company has now announced plans to expand regionally.