Dopay, a London-based fintech startup that offers payroll services for the unbanked, has closed an $18M (approx €15.3M) Series A funding round.
Investors in the round include Force Over Mass Capital, FMO, and NN Group. Africa’s Mbuyu Capital and Nordic fund Alder Tree Investments also participated.
The latest round comes five years after securing $2.4M (approx €2M) in Pre-Series A funding from Techstars Ventures and Force Over Mass Capital. To date, the company has secured $22.5M (approx €19.2M) in funding.
Fund utilisation
The UK company will use the funds to continue scaling rapidly in its initial market, Egypt while building a range of financial services in addition to cashless payroll and prepaid cards for employees.
Frans van Eersel, Founder and CEO of Dopay, said, “The value of our Series A funding confirms the investment community’s confidence in the Dopay offer. Our commercial validity through our B2B2C model is clear, and our technology capability is proven and strong. Egypt is the biggest market in the MENA region. We will serve a rapidly growing number of Egyptian businesses, from SMEs to major corporations, and their employees. We are ready to aggressively grow our solutions, leveraging up- and cross-selling opportunities, as we increase Dopay’s range of services and partners across MENA.”
Breaking cash cycle
According to Dopay, 200M businesses still rely on cash payments while their workers have no access to bank accounts. Dopay aims to break this cash cycle by offering a payroll and cash management service for companies..
The Dopay platform enables businesses of any size to open personal accounts for their employees, contractors, and other beneficiaries in seconds. Each account provides a prepaid debit card, 24/7 access to funds via ATM withdrawal. Through its virtual banking platform, Dopay digitises cash payments from employers to workers and other beneficiaries
Focusing on MENA region
Since its inception in 2015, Dopay has grown from proof of concept to a fully licensed next-generation virtual banking platform in Egypt, with hundreds of active customers from small local businesses to global enterprises.
From offices in London, Cairo, and Abu Dhabi, the company aims to focus growth in the MENA region. The company was part of the first cohort of the Barclays Accelerator program, powered by Techstars, in London.
Banking agent license
Last month, Dopay received a banking agent license through Arab Banking Corporation Egypt (Bank ABC Egypt).
The license allows the company to launch a next-generation virtual banking platform, in accordance with the guidelines set by the Central Bank of Egypt.