Munify, a digital bank focused on Egyptians living abroad, has closed a $3 million seed round and joined Y Combinator’s accelerator program. Backers include the accelerator itself and regional investors such as BYLD and DCG. The startup aims to simplify remittances and provide U.S. banking access for customers in Egypt and the wider Middle East.
Founder brings Microsoft and Uber experience
Khalid Ashmawy, Munify’s founder and CEO, grew up in Cairo and later trained in computer science in Europe. He spent several years at Microsoft and Uber before co-founding Huspy, a proptech startup backed by Founders Fund where he served as chief technology officer.
Ashmawy says his own struggles sending money home while studying in Stuttgart exposed a persistent gap in cross-border finance—high fees, slow settlement times and limited access to foreign banking for residents in countries like Egypt. Those frustrations shaped Munify’s product priorities.
Addressing a $30 billion remittance market
Egypt is one of the largest remittance recipients globally. According to World Bank remittance data, inflows to the country are substantial, creating a significant addressable market for faster, cheaper payment rails.
Traditional channels such as bank wires, Western Union and MoneyGram still dominate, but fintech entrants focused on migrant workers and diasporas—like Nigeria’s LemFi and India’s Aspora—have demonstrated demand for digital-first alternatives. Munify positions itself to capture Egyptian remitters across the U.S., U.K., Europe and the Gulf.
Products: instant transfers and U.S. banking for residents
Munify offers two core products. For the diaspora, it provides instant cross-border transfers with competitive foreign-exchange rates. For residents in Egypt and neighboring markets, it enables the opening of U.S. bank accounts and payment cards using a local ID, allowing customers to receive, hold and spend dollars and to hedge against local currency volatility.
The startup also exposes APIs for businesses, payroll providers and freelance platforms that need to send and receive international payments, combining consumer remittance features with enterprise-grade payment infrastructure.
