Dubai-based fintech Zywa gets backed by Y Combinator and closes a $1 million pre-Seed round for its teen neobank. Besides Y Combinator, the strategic investors from the United States and the Middle East who participated in the round include executives from Google, Amazon, Netflix, McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, as well as regional bankers and entrepreneurs.
Zywa is part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2022 batch (YC W22) that kicked off early this year. Y Combinator is the most globally renowned startup accelerator that has backed unicorns like Airbnb, Reddit, Dropbox, Coinbase, Stripe, DoorDash, Instacart, Brex, GitLab, and has a collective portfolio value of $600B+.
Founded in 2021 by young entrepreneurs Alok Kumar and Nuha Hashem, Zywa is bringing a unique solution to the region by offering a social banking app and a payment card to Gen Z between the age of 11-21 years old. Growing up as teenagers in the GCC region, the young founders personally felt the pain point of using cash while growing up and took it upon themselves to enable Gen Z in the region to go cashless. The startup is building a solution for Gen Z and has already assembled a founding team of Gen Zs and young millennials.
The team has already secured strategic partnerships in Egypt and the UAE, and the app is already available on the App Store where teens and parents are able to join the waitlist. Zywa is planning to launch in Egypt and the UAE soon and prepping to go live in Saudi Arabia by 2023.
