Egyptian digital investment platform Thndr raised $20 million in an early stage funding round that it will use to boost its product development and expand across the Middle East and North Africa region.
The latest funding round for the Cairo-based start-up was co-led by Dubai's Beco Capital, New York-based Tiger Global Management and The Netherlands' Prosus Ventures. Base Capital, firstminute and existing investors Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Raba Partnerships and Jimco also participated in the funding, the company said.
The company, which secured $125,000 in seed funding, is a multi-language app that aims to educate investors to make their own financial decisions and take a stake in their own economies.
It has a strategy of enabling clients to invest in stocks, bonds and funds in the region in a user-friendly manner through its mobile-based and low-commission digital stock brokerage.
“We are building an investment supermarket for Mena consumers to access relevant investment products. With a focus on financial literacy, we equip investors with the knowledge to make self-directed investment decisions," Ahmad Hammouda, co-founder and chief executive of Thndr, said.
The global WealthTech solutions market is growing as more people become financially responsible, and is projected to rise to $137.44 million by 2028 from $54.62m in 2021, according to Research and Markets.
In the third quarter of 2021, total capital investment in global WealthTech reached a record $21 billion, industry insight provider FinTech Global said. The three-month period was also the largest in terms of the number of funding deals recorded (160) and total funding raised ($7.6bn).
Greater savings and time at home, coupled with with fewer opportunities to spend money, are also driving consumers to improve their financial position with the help of technology, Euromonitor International said in its 2022 trends report.
Thndr's assets under custody surged 29 times last year, with monthly traded values up by similar levels. The start-up also accounted for 36 per cent of all new registrations in the local Egyptian exchanges in 2021.
The company said the market fundamentals of Mena are compelling, citing the region’s population of 370 million amassing $500bn in annual savings. Of this, 62 per cent have smartphones and half the population is aged between 14 and 45, it added.
Mobile investment platforms are creating investors out of those who previously had limited equity market exposure, according to Thndr, with 87 per cent of the user base as first-time investors and 40 per cent hailing from rural areas.
“Compared to other developed regions, the opportunity in Mena for equity brokerage is more complex for an international player to capture, given the regional fragmentation, cultural nuances and regulatory framework," Sandeep Bakshi, head of European investments at Prosus Ventures, said.
Thndr was launched in late 2020 by Mr Hammouda, a former general manager of ride-hailing platform Uber in Egypt, and Seif Amr.
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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T20 SQUADS
Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shinwari, Hassan Ali, Imad Wasim, Waqas Maqsood, Faheem Ashraf.
The years Ramadan fell in May
Four tips to secure IoT networks
Mohammed Abukhater, vice president at FireEye in the Middle East, said:
- Keep device software up-to-date. Most come with basic operating system, so users should ensure that they always have the latest version
- Besides a strong password, use two-step authentication. There should be a second log-in step like adding a code sent to your mobile number
- Usually smart devices come with many unnecessary features. Users should lock those features that are not required or used frequently
- Always create a different guest network for visitors
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PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
