Fawry acquires stakes in three tech startups for $1.6 million

Fawry, Egypt’s fintech unicorn, has invested EGP 80 million ($1.6 million) to acquire stakes in three Egyptian tech firms: Dirac Systems (51%), Virtual CFO (56.6%), and Code Zone (51%). The move is part of its broader strategy to strengthen its B2B fintech vertical, Fawry Business.

Dirac Systems, which counts large retail chains like Coca-Cola among its clients, specialises in enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions that streamline business operations. Virtual CFO offers financial management services tailored for startups and SMEs, providing expertise without the overhead of a full-time CFO. Code Zone is a strategic tech infrastructure acquisition meant to enhance Fawry's technological capabilities.

Fawry’s latest move is part of a bigger shift seen across fintech companies in Africa: chasing enterprise clients over consumers. For example, Nigeria's Flutterwave laid off 24 employees, about 3% of its staff, to double down on enterprise and remittances—two of its biggest revenue drivers. South Africa's Stitch acquired ExiPay, an offline payment infrastructure provider, to entrench its value offering to the enterprise market it already serves.

For Fawry, there's a strong incentive: it’s where the money is. In its 2024 half-year results, “Fawry Business,” which includes banking services, financial solutions for SMEs, and supply chain digitization, emerged as its biggest revenue driver. 

Banking services, which cover card payment solutions via POS for large enterprises, saw a 70.2% year-on-year (YoY) increase, bringing in EGP 932.1 million ($18.4 million). Financial services, including SME lending, employee insurance brokerage, cash management, and payroll card solutions, recorded the highest growth at 113% YoY, though it generated less overall—EGP 377.7 million ($7.5 million). Meanwhile, supply chain solutions, which help merchants, suppliers, and sales agents digitise transactions, added EGP 160.1 million ($3.1 million) to the business.

With numbers like these, it’s clear why Fawry is doubling down on enterprise services. B2B is proving to be the company’s strongest growth engine, and its latest acquisitions only reinforce that direction. With these acquisitions, Fawry will deepen its services to large and small enterprises, and financial institutions, expanding its potential revenue basket.

Despite what seems like positive news, investor sentiment is saying otherwise; Fawry ($FWRY) traded at EGP 8 ($8) on the EGX at the close of market on Thursday, declining by 0.12%. However, the fintech giant will hope that this is only a minor slump as it picks up pace in the coming weeks leading to the announcement of its full-year financial performance.

Fawry currently has a market cap of EGP 26.49 billion ($523 million), nowhere near the $1 billion valuation that made it Egypt’s first unicorn before it went public. Yet, it remains one of the country’s most important fintechs.