Khaled Ashmawi He remembers the first time that he delivered money while studying in Europe.
He had just received his monthly salary as a master’s student in Stuttgart and wanted to send part of him to his family in Cairo. And remember that it was usually slow and expensive. For example, the negative transfer of $ 400 may cost $ 40 of the fees and takes three working days to arrive.
Years later, while working in Microsoft and Uber in the United States, and even after the establishment of a startup, this experience did not improve much.
The Pain Pain point was in different stages of his career, eventually inspired Ashmawy to launch munifyOne of the parties to the crossed nubin designed to give Egyptians abroad a faster and cheapest way to send money to the home, and for residents of the country, access to American banking services.
Earlier this year, the startup joined Y Combinator’s Summer 2025 batchOne of the rare participants from outside the United States and one of the few without the main AI stadium in a category dominated by startups AI. The company also raised $ 3 million of seed financing from an accelerator and other regional investors, including byd and DCG.
“The banking services have not been built for gay people. It is very expensive, takes a long time,” said in an interview, the founder and CEO of Techcrunch in an interview. “It is a problem that I have passed personally, and it echo with many people who want to send money to the homeland quickly and efficiently.”
Ashmawy grew up in Egypt, studied computer science, and developed a deep love for programs early. A grant took him to Europe, where he completed two master’s degrees in Germany and Switzerland.
From there, he spent seven years as an engineer and leader of Microsoft and Uber – experiments that opened his eyes to the world of sabotage technologies and startups.
His next step was inevitable. In 2019, Ashmawy Uber left to Founding funds have been launchedThe PROPTECH platform focuses on real estate loans in the Middle East, which works as the chief technology official until 2022.
Hossby left him giving him a space to think about his migrant trip. Again, the issue of transfers was looming on the horizon. Meanwhile, in other emerging markets, platforms like Nigeria Limafi India Asporah They were already less, helping immigrants from those countries send money to the homeland.
Egypt is one of the largest transfers in the world, Obtaining approximately $ 30 billion in flow annually.
While banking wires and traditional transfers such as Western Union and Moneygram remain dominant options, Munify hopes that the first option is in a growing set of digital banks that are cheaper and fastest transport.
According to Ashmawi, Montifi serves Egyptians abroad – primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Gulf – who want to send money to the home immediately and at better prices.
Munify also provides companies, remote workers and independent messengers in the Middle East a way to open a bank account and American cards using only a local identifier to receive and spend money, as well as hedging against local currency fluctuations.
“The main reason behind our difference is that we are building our own bars and directly linked us to banking systems across different countries,” said the CEO of Techcrunch, adding that the platform, which was launched two weeks ago.
“We really designed this experience for people from the region,” Ashmawi said.
On the business side, Munify signed contracts with medium -sized companies and institutions, which represent 50 million dollars expected in a monthly volume across the border, according to Ashmawy.
Emerging, which is working on a consumers and double business model (providing transfers and banking services to individuals, while providing applications for companies to send and receive across border payments), plans to expand beyond Egypt to the countries of the Middle East and other neighboring, and is gradually subject between regional banking railways.
Its revenues come from foreign currency differences, exchange, and payment flows.
Y Combinator’s batches over the past two years have preferred artificial and developed intelligence tools from the United States. So, how did you enter the Egyptian Fintech? Ashmawy is attributed to the sharp nature of the problem.
He said: “If you are a big and urgent problem, this really concerns, regardless of whether the current wave is Amnesty International or anything else.”
But there is a precedent for this support as well. YC has historically invested in startups that solve solid financial infrastructure problems, from tape to coinbase. Likewise, transfers are one of the most firm pain points in global financing and one of the areas of consistent concentration of the speed when supporting startups from emerging markets (for example: LEMFI and ASPORA) before their last inclination.
In the midst of this, Munify represented an opportunity to support an experienced founder in Two US Tech Giants, a busy record in building one of the best PROPTECH companies in the Anti -Anti -Anti -Organization, and personal contact with the problem.
https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/c05d4c01-f1c4-4bf6-8172-32a64843e743.jpeg?resize=1200,801
Source link