Five months after introducing its buy now, pay later (BNPL) service in Egypt, UAE-based fintech company Tabby has announced the end of its operations there.
The choice was made in reaction to Egypt’s challenging macroeconomic situation, which is a result of the Egyptian pound’s declining value, which has lost 53% of its value since March 2020.
Hosam Arab, the company’s founder and CEO, stated in a statement that his organization continues to have faith in the Egyptian market and the potential of its consumer loan sector. The company’s focus will now be on maintaining growth in its key markets, which include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
With a post-funding valuation of $600 million, Tabby, which secured $58 million in a Series C investment round last month, will keep investing in expanding its personnel to serve its key regions.
Notwithstanding the difficult economic climate, Egypt’s consumer loan industry has lately expanded, with a turnover of EGP 17 billion (about $554 million) in 2021, up from EGP 8.4 billion (around $274 million) the year before. Additionally, a study by Research and Markets predicts that Egypt’s BNPL market would increase from $1 billion in 2022 to $5.8 billion by 2028.
Even though the firm has chosen to halt its commercial activities in Egypt, it has stated that it would keep looking for chances to resume operations in the future.
