Khalid ashmawy He remembers the first time he approved the money at home while studying in Europe.
He had just received his monthly grant as a student of the master in Stuttgart and wanted to send him part back to his family in Cairo. It was usually a slow and expensive process, he recalled. A $ 400 cable transfer, for example, could cost $ 40 in fees and take three business days to arrive.
Years later, while working at Microsoft and Uber in the US, even after setting up a start, this experience had not improved much.
The persistent pain point in different stages of his career eventually inspired Ashmawy to start CanA cross -border neobank designed to give Egyptians abroad a fastest, cheaper way to send money home and, for residents of the country, access to American banking.
Earlier this year, the start was incorporated Y Combinator’s Summer 2025 BatchA rare participant outside the US and one of the few without a step AI core in a class dominated by genetic newly established AI companies. The company also increased $ 3 million in accelerator funding and other regional investors, including BYLD and DCG.
“Banking was not made for people like me. It is very expensive, it lasts long and is fragmented,” the founder and chief executive in an interview in an interview. “It’s a problem I have personally experienced and one that resonates with many people who want to send money back home quickly and effectively.”
Ashmawy grew up in Egypt, studied computer science and developed a deep love for software early. A scholarship led him to Europe, where he completed two Master’s degrees in Germany and Switzerland.
From there, he spent seven years as an engineer and leader of the team in Microsoft and Uber – experiences that have opened his eyes to the world of disturbed technologies and newly established businesses.
His next step was inevitable. In 2019, Ashmawy left Uber to launch Huspy, a Proptech platform, a Proptech platform, focused on mortgages in the Middle East, which served as head of technology by 2022.
Letting Huspy gave him room to think of his own immigrant journey. Once again, the issue of remittances was large. Meanwhile, in other emerging markets, platforms such as Nigeria’s Lemfi and India’s Aspora had already taken off, helping immigrants from these countries send money back home.
Egypt is one of the largest remittances in the world, Taking nearly $ 30 billion in inputs annually.
While bank cables and traditional remnants, such as Western Union and Moneygram, remain the dominant options, Munify hopes to be the first choice in a growing digital banks that promise cheaper and faster transport.
According to Ashmawy, Munify serves Egyptians abroad – mainly in the US, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Gulf – who want to send money home immediately and at better prices.
Munify also provides businesses, remote workers and Middle Eastern freelancers a way of opening a bank account and a US card using only one local ID to receive and spend money, as well as compensation against local currency volatility.
“The main reason we are different is that we are building our own rails and directly connecting banking systems to different countries,” the chief executive at TechCrunch told, adding that the platform, which just started two weeks ago, already sees timely adoption.
“We have really tailored this experience for people from the area,” Ashmawy said.
From the business side, Munify has signed contracts with medium -sized companies and businesses, representing a predicted monthly $ 50+ million dollar volume, according to Ashmawy.
The start, which operates in a double consumer and business model (offering remittance and banking services for individuals, while providing API to businesses to send and receive cross -border payments), plans to expand beyond Egypt to other countries in the Middle Eastern Eastern countries.
Its income comes from FX spreads, exchange and payment flows.
The batches of Y Combinator over the last two years have favored AI and developers from the United States. So how did the Egyptian Fintech come in? Ashmawy credits the acute nature of the problem.
“If you resolve a big and urgent problem, that’s what really matters, regardless of whether today’s wave is AI or something else,” he said.
But there is a previous one for this support. The YC has historically invested in newly established hard -to -stripe coinbase infrastructure problems. Similarly, remittances are one of the most established pain points in global funding and one of the consistent accelerator focusing areas in support of newly established businesses from emerging markets (at the point: Lemfi and Aspora) before the recent inclination of AI.
Through this, Munify represented the opportunity to support a founder with experience in two American technology giants, a history of manufacturing one of Mena’s leading Proptech companies and a personal connection to the problem.
