Egyptian-founded FinTech startup Synapse Analytics raises $13 million to bring AI decisioning to banks

Synapse Analytics is now headquartered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and works with banks, FinTechs and telecom companies across the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

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Synapse Analytics, an Egyptian-founded startup that builds decision-making software for banks and other regulated financial institutions, has raised $13 million in a Series A round.

The round brings the company’s total funding to $17 million since it was founded. However, the terms of the deal and the company’s valuation were not disclosed.

The round was led by Partech, a global technology investment firm. Algebra Ventures and Silicon Badia also took part.

Synapse Analytics is now headquartered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and works with banks, FinTechs and telecom companies across the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

Ahmed Abaza, co-founder and CEO of Synapse Analytics, said, “Our mission is to give financial institutions the intelligence and decision infrastructure they need to make faster, more secure decisions to reduce risk, unlock growth and build stronger customer relationships. Partech’s investment reflects the momentum we have built and gives us the backing of a leading global technology investor to pursue the next stage of that ambition.”

Founded by Ahmed Abaza and Galal El-Beshbeshy in 2018, Synapse Analytics builds software that lets banks and other regulated financial institutions manage their own risk and credit decisions, instead of relying on outside systems.

Risk and credit teams can use the platform to build, test, and roll out lending policies themselves, and check how a policy would have performed against past data before it goes live.

The software can run inside a bank’s own infrastructure, whether that is on-site, on a private or public cloud, or on a fully offline (air-gapped) system. This means banks can automate decisions on onboarding, credit, fraud, and anti-money-laundering checks without sending sensitive customer data to outside servers, which helps them meet strict banking and data rules.

Galal El-Beshbishy, co-founder and COO, added: “We built Synapse Analytics to help financial institutions make better underwriting decisions. Today, we’re taking that a step further by working with banks, fintechs and other firms to enable intelligent agents that actively work alongside their teams. Our vision is to create the AI operating system for the new age of finance.”

Synapse Analytics aims to utilise the new funding to improve its engineering and commercial teams, accelerate the development of its decision-making software, and expand its presence in new markets throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

With over 50 clients served, more than 10 million applications processed, and over $200 million in loans facilitated, the company focuses on AI innovation. The team consists of over 50 professionals, including PhDs, MScs, and experienced consultants, who collaborate to solve intricate challenges in the industry.

Lewam Kefela, Principal at Partech, said: “We’re excited to back Synapse Analytics as it builds the category-leading decisioning infrastructure for banks and financial institutions across the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Ahmed, Galal and their team have the technical depth and execution to scale it, and we look forward to supporting their next phase of growth.”

Last year, Vodafone Business teamed up with Synapse Analytics to enhance its AI offerings for Egyptian businesses in financial services, telecommunications, retail, and logistics.

This partnership allows Vodafone to provide integrated digital transformation solutions by combining Synapse’s AI tools with its own telecom and 5G infrastructure.

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