For Egyptians traditionally left out of the formal banking system, Khazna provides a suite of services to transform the way they access and… — For Egyptians traditionally left out of the formal banking system, Khazna provides a suite of services to transform the way they access and manage their money After earning his MBA at Stanford in 2014, Omar Saleh came back to Cairo where he was born and raised, wanting to build a…

Acasa is changing the real estate landscape for homeowners in Latin America. — Acasa is changing the real estate landscape for homeowners in Latin America. For Mauricio and Nicolas Peñaranda, who grew up in Colombia, real estate investment has long been a family passion. The brothers have been involved in it since they were teenagers — their dad was a doctor who took…

By Ganesh Rengaswamy — By Ganesh Rengaswamy Since my early days as an entrepreneur in Mumbai in 2005, and subsequently as an investor in India and Southeast Asia for Greylock, Unitus, and my current firm, Quona Capital, a lot has changed in these markets. Back in the early 2000s, China was on the rise…

By Monica Brand Engel — By Monica Brand Engel To say 2021 was a banner year for fintechs in Egypt is an understatement. The $159 million raised across 32 fintech companies last year was nearly a 330% increase over 2020, when $37.1 million was raised across 25 companies.

Using data and a B2B2C model, the online platform Sunday, led by visionary Cindy Kua, is reinventing how insurance works across the region. — Using data and a B2B2C model, the online platform Sunday, led by visionary Cindy Kua, is reinventing how insurance works across the region. Cindy Kua grew up watching her dad build Malaysia’s largest insurance conglomerate, KSK. After living and studying in the UK for a decade, she moved back to…

Rafa de la Guia jokingly calls himself a “fatino,” short for fake Latino. De la Guia, who helps to oversee Quona’s Latin America portfolio… — Rafa de la Guia jokingly calls himself a “fatino,” short for fake Latino. De la Guia, who helps to oversee Quona’s Latin America portfolio and is based in Mexico City, was raised not in Latin America, but northern Spain. Seeing the economic developments happening throughout LatAm as more people gain…

Kristin Sadler knows how to navigate unfamiliar terrain. Recently promoted to Manager of Platform and Impact at Quona, Kristin has been… — Kristin Sadler knows how to navigate unfamiliar terrain. Recently promoted to Manager of Platform and Impact at Quona, Kristin has been building programming from scratch since the start of her career. Whether it’s creating technology training programs in a small village in Namibia or finding ways to connect startup founders…

Facily empowers consumers to get the best prices on items by buying in groups. — In May of 2018, Facily was a team of three co-founders looking to figure out a way to break into the ecommerce market in Brazil and make an impact. At first, the group — Diego Dzodan, Luciano Freitas, and Vitor Zaninotto — were inspired by the multi-service platform Go-Jek in…

Verto gives companies, employees, and financial institutions a way to move money seamlessly and securely across emerging markets — Verto gives companies, employees, and financial institutions a way to move money seamlessly and securely across emerging markets Ola Oyetayo had been working in finance in the UK for nearly a decade at behemoths including American Express, Barclays, Lloyds and ICBC Standard Bank when he began to hear from more…