Algebra Ventures backs Ayman Essawy for the third time, co-leads Connect Money’s $8M seed funding.

We’re thrilled to co-lead Connect Money’s $8M seed funding round alongside our friends at Disruptech Ventures and Lorax Capital Partners.

Over the past few years, we’ve had the privilege of backing Ayman Essawy as he built not one, but two impressive startups – Dsquares and Lucky ONE alongside his co-founders Marwan Kenawy and Momtaz Moussa. When he shared his vision for Connect Money, we knew we had to be a part of it.

Connect Money is addressing a crucial fintech infrastructure gap in the region by enabling companies to offer financial services to their customers, partners, and suppliers without the burden of building the required technology and regulatory infrastructure from scratch. Companies can now focus on their core business while Connect Money handles the heavy lifting.

“We are immensely proud to announce the closure of our seed funding round, a testament to the confidence and support extended by our investors Disruptech Ventures, Algebra Ventures, Lorax Capital Partners, One Stop and MDP. This significant seed investment underscores our hyper-growth potential as we strive to eliminate existing pain points for businesses aiming to become financially enabled,” said Ayman Essawy, Co-founder and CEO of Connect Money.

As a third-time founder having built Dsquares (2012) and Lucky ONE (2019) along with veteran co-founders Marwan Kenawy and Momtaz Moussa, Essawy is optimistic about enabling non-financial institutions in accelerating their growth by feeding more efficiencies to their existing operations and generating new revenues streams from banking services.

“Ayman is an incredible entrepreneur who has co-founded some of the most successful startups in MENA, including Dsquares and Lucky. We were part of his journey since the very beginning and are excited to be backing him once more as he addresses a massive fintech infrastructure gap in the region,” said Omar Khashaba, General Partner at Algebra Ventures. “Connect will allow companies to issue cards to their customers, partners or suppliers without having to build fintech infrastructure, obtain regulatory approval or partner with a bank. Companies can just focus on their core business and let Connect do all the heavy lifting,” added Khashaba.