Thursday March 28th, 2024
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EG BANK Invests $650k in Buy-Now-Pay-Later App Shahry

In another win for Egypt’s entrepreneurial landscape, EG BANK has announced its investment in Shahry, a FinTech startup that uses AI to calculate credit scores and approve users for virtual credit.

Staff Writer

EG BANK Invests $650k in Buy-Now-Pay-Later App Shahry

Yes, work might have slowed down and yes, your last pay cheque might need to stretch a little further this month but there is some hope as punchy startups and big banks alike do what they can to keep the economic wheel turning. Case in point: EG BANK has announced a $650,000 pre-seed investment in local startup, Shahry. Shahry is a FinTech meets e-commerce app that lets you apply for ‘virtual credit’ to make immediate online purchases and pay later in installments - perfect for that super cool gadget you’ve been eyeing.

While buy-now-pay-later financing schemes have been around for a while, Shahry digitises the whole process, eliminating the hassle of standing in line with your paperwork. With Shahry, you choose your total amount and a repayment scheme that suits you. Then, using an AI-powered credit scoring engine, you can get approved in no time, and the amount will be deposited into your Shahry account for you to make your choice between thousands of products they’ve got listed from the likes of Souq and other online retailers. You never even have to leave the Shahry app.

 “While Shahry is for everyone, we can see Egypt’s un- and under banked populations, who live outside of the formal banking system, as being our largest customer segment. Those are people who need access to finance most, and we try to help them make ends meet,” explained Sherif ElRakabawy, CEO of Shahry.

"We see great potential in Shahry and the area of financial non-banking services in Egypt, and are looking into investment opportunities that offer innovative solutions for lending,” said Mohamed Moheyeldin, CEO of Egyptian Gulf Holding for Financial Investments, the investment arm of EG BANK. “We strive to centre at the heart of EG BANK and support young entrepreneurs and innovation."

So far, Shahry is in soft launch on Google Playstore, but will roll out fully to all operating systems soon.