Cairo, Egypt – Flend, a Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA)-licensed digital financing platform focused on Egypt’s underserved small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), has successfully raised USD 3 million in a seed funding round comprising both equity and debt.
The equity portion of the round was led by Egypt Ventures, with participation from Camel Ventures, Sukna Ventures, Plus VC, and Banque Misr. The round also attracted contributions from notable regional family offices, including El Sewedy and Baalbaki. On the debt side, Flend secured facilities from MSMEDA and other local banking partners.
The platform plans to deploy the newly raised capital to accelerate its growth and expand embedded financing through digital partnerships. With over 20 embedded partners already integrated into its network, Flend aims to inject EGP 1 billion in short-term working capital loans within the next year, targeting key sectors such as healthcare distribution, agri-food, manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, and local exports.
“Access to SME financing remains a challenge across Egypt and the wider region, limiting the growth of one of the most important segments of the economy. Flend is addressing this gap by making lending more embedded, digital-first, and truly accessible,” said Hasan Haider, Founder and Managing Partner at Plus VC.
Co-Founder and CEO Ahmed Zaki commented, “This funding round allows us to deliver financing where SMEs actually do business — embedded directly into the platforms and sectors that drive Egypt’s productive economy. We’ve seen a significant surge in demand and are excited to scale our impact.”
Flend is fully regulated as a Digital Non-Banking Financial Institution (Digital NBFI) and operates a completely digital process—from onboarding and credit scoring to loan disbursement and collections. Its platform is designed to enable embedded lending by directly integrating with digital ecosystems that serve SME supply chains, reducing customer acquisition costs and improving credit decisions through better access to real-time data.
The startup’s efforts are aligned with Egypt’s national development goals, aiming to bridge the estimated USD 50 billion SME financing gap with scalable, tech-enabled financial solutions.
