Khalid Ashmawy remembers the primary time he wired cash house whereas finding out in Europe.
He had simply obtained his month-to-month stipend as a grasp’s pupil in Stuttgart and needed to ship a part of it again to his household in Cairo. It was often a sluggish and costly course of, he recalled. A $400 wire switch, as an illustration, might value $40 in charges and take three enterprise days to reach.
Years later, whereas working at Microsoft and Uber within the U.S., and even after founding a startup, that have hadn’t improved a lot.
The persistent ache level throughout completely different phases of his profession ultimately impressed Ashmawy to launch Munify, a cross-border neobank designed to offer Egyptians overseas a quicker, cheaper option to ship cash house and, for residents within the nation, entry to U.S. banking.
Earlier this yr, the startup joined Y Combinator’s Summer 2025 batch, a uncommon entrant from outdoors the U.S. and one of many few and not using a core AI pitch in a category dominated by generative AI startups. The corporate additionally raised $3 million in seed funding from the accelerator and different regional traders, together with BYLD and DCG.
“Banking wasn’t constructed for individuals like me. It’s very expensive, takes a very long time, and is fragmented,” the founder and chief government informed TechCrunch in an interview. “It’s an issue I’ve personally skilled and one which resonates with lots of people who wish to ship a reimbursement house shortly and effectively.”
Ashmawy grew up in Egypt, studied pc science, and developed a deep love for software program early on. A scholarship took him to Europe, the place he accomplished two grasp’s levels in Germany and Switzerland.
From there, he spent seven years as an engineer and crew chief at Microsoft and Uber — experiences that opened his eyes to the world of disruptive applied sciences and startups.
His subsequent step was inevitable. In 2019, Ashmawy left Uber to launch Founders Fund-backed Huspy, a proptech platform centered on mortgages within the Center East, serving as its chief expertise officer till 2022.
Leaving Huspy gave him house to mirror on his personal immigrant journey. As soon as once more, the problem of remittances loomed giant. In the meantime, in different rising markets, platforms like Nigeria’s LemFi and India’s Aspora had been already taking off, serving to migrants from these nations ship a reimbursement house.
Egypt is without doubt one of the world’s largest remittance markets, receiving nearly $30 billion in inflows annually.
Whereas financial institution wires and conventional remittance platforms reminiscent of Western Union and MoneyGram stay the dominant choices, Munify hopes to be the primary alternative in a rising crop of digital banks that promise cheaper and quicker transfers.
Based on Ashmawy, Munify serves Egyptians overseas — primarily within the U.S., U.Okay., Europe, and the Gulf — who wish to ship cash house immediately and at higher charges.
Munify additionally offers companies, distant staff, and freelancers within the Center East a option to open a U.S. checking account and card utilizing solely an area ID to obtain and spend cash, in addition to hedge in opposition to native forex volatility.
“The primary cause why we’re completely different is that we’re constructing our personal rails and immediately connecting the banking techniques throughout completely different nations,” the CEO informed TechCrunch, including that the platform, which simply launched two weeks in the past, is already seeing early adoption by phrase of mouth with hundreds of sign-ups.
“We’ve actually tailor-made this expertise for individuals from the area,” stated Ashmawy.
On the enterprise aspect, Munify has signed contracts with mid-sized firms and enterprises, representing a projected $50+ million in month-to-month cross-border quantity, in keeping with Ashmawy.
The startup, which operates on a twin shopper and enterprise mannequin (providing remittance and banking companies for people, whereas offering APIs for companies to ship and obtain cross-border funds), plans to broaden past Egypt to different Center Jap and adjoining nations, steadily stitching collectively regional banking rails.
Its income comes from FX spreads, interchange, and fee flows.
Y Combinator’s batches over the previous couple of years have favored AI and developer instruments from america. So, how did the Egyptian fintech get in? Ashmawy credit the acute nature of the issue.
“For those who’re fixing a giant and pressing downside, that’s what actually issues, no matter whether or not the present wave is AI or one thing else,” he stated.
However there’s precedent for this backing as effectively. YC has traditionally invested in startups fixing arduous monetary infrastructure issues, from Stripe to Coinbase. Equally, remittances are one of the crucial entrenched ache factors in international finance and one of many accelerator’s constant focus areas when backing startups from rising markets (living proof: LemFi and Aspora) earlier than its current AI tilt.
Within the midst of that, Munify represented an opportunity to again a founder with expertise at two U.S. tech giants, a monitor document of constructing one among MENA’s high proptech firms, and a private connection to the issue.
