Egyptian e-commerce startup Fincart has raised $2.8 million in seed funding as it looks to accelerate expansion across Africa and the Middle East, betting that merchants need more than logistics software to run their businesses efficiently.
The funding comes as the two-year-old startup evolves from a last-mile logistics platform into an AI-powered operating system that combines logistics management, embedded finance and business automation for online merchants.
The seed round was co-led by pan-African venture capital firm Launch Africa and Antler MENAP, with participation from Yango Ventures, Five35 Ventures, Bluestream Capital, Hi2 Global, Kalahari Venture Labs and several other investors.
The investment follows an undisclosed pre-seed round raised 18 months ago and marks the next stage in Fincart’s evolution as it broadens its product offering beyond logistics.
The timing also reflects growing investor interest in Egypt’s expanding e-commerce sector, which is projected to reach $20.15 billion by 2031, creating demand for software and financial infrastructure that helps merchants manage increasingly complex online businesses.
Fincart said the new capital will be used to expand its commercial and engineering teams, strengthen its AI-powered platform, accelerate product development and build new strategic partnerships across its core markets.
“Our strategy has always been centred on strengthening the e-commerce ecosystem,” said Mostafa Masry, Fincart’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.
“This investment will allow us to deepen our partnerships, enhance our AI capabilities, expand our infrastructure and accelerate our growth across Africa and the Middle East.”
Founded in 2023 by Masry and Nihal Ali, Fincart initially focused on helping online merchants coordinate last-mile deliveries and reconcile cash-on-delivery (CoD) payments a persistent operational challenge in markets where cash remains a dominant payment method.
As customer needs evolved, so did the business.
Today, the platform combines shipping management, merchant financing and AI-powered customer engagement tools into a single operating system designed to simplify day-to-day business operations.
Merchants using the platform can connect with more than 40 shipping providers while also accessing short-term working capital through embedded financing services.
According to Masry, the company’s pivot was driven by a recurring problem among merchants.
Many businesses relied on multiple software platforms to manage logistics, payments, marketing and customer support, leaving critical business data fragmented across disconnected systems and making automation difficult.
Fincart’s solution was to bring those functions together under one platform powered by artificial intelligence.
“Everything we build starts with sitting down with merchants and understanding where they’re losing time, money or customers,” said co-founder Nihal Ali.
“We built Fincart to replace multiple disconnected tools with a single control centre that helps merchants sell more, deliver faster and manage customer relationships more efficiently.”
The startup operates in an increasingly competitive market alongside regional players such as MaxAB-Wasoko and global commerce platforms like Shopify, both of which offer services to online merchants.
Despite the competition, Fincart says it has onboarded more than 450 merchants and enterprise customers, processing close to EGP 1 billion (about $20 million) in gross merchandise value through its automated shipping and cash reconciliation platform.
The company generates revenue through shipping fees and subscription-based software plans, with pricing ranging from EGP 1,584 ($31.20) to EGP 7,199 ($141.96) per month depending on the services merchants use.
While Egypt remains its primary market, Fincart plans to begin expanding into other African markets from 2027 as it scales its platform.
For Launch Africa, the investment reflects confidence in the broader opportunity to build infrastructure for digital commerce across the continent.
“Egypt’s e-commerce market represents one of Africa’s most compelling infrastructure opportunities,” said Lina Kacyem, Investment Manager at Launch Africa.
“It is a high-volume market where cash-on-delivery remains dominant, yet small and medium-sized businesses remain underserved. Fincart’s strong organic growth and customer referrals demonstrate clear product-market fit, and we’re excited to support the company’s expansion across Egypt and into new African markets.”
As online commerce continues to grow across Africa and the Middle East, startups are increasingly moving beyond solving individual operational problems to building integrated platforms that combine payments, logistics, financing and artificial intelligence.
Fincart is betting that merchants would rather manage all of those functions from one platform than juggle multiple disconnected tools and investors appear willing to back that vision.