nsave – a fintech company focused on offering safe and secure accounts and payments for individuals from distressed economies – announced the closing of its first round of seed funding at $4 million. Sequoia Capital and TQ Ventures co-led the funding round with participation from Y Combinator, SV Angel, ACE Ventures, and FONGIT (the State of Geneva organization supporting tech startups).
The company was co-founded by Amer Baroudi and Abdallah AbuHashem, Rhodes Scholars who met at the University of Oxford and have experience in banking, regulatory compliance, and fintech.
nsave built a simple-to-use app that enables customers who suffer from high inflation and live in unstable economies to protect their money by accessing safe accounts. And the company has also created a proprietary monitoring transaction tool to ensure it meets the most stringent banking regulations, including anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing laws and processes for identifying and verifying a client’s identity when opening an account (also referred to as Know Your Client or KYC).
Baroudi is an entrepreneur with a strong track record of building award-winning companies in the tech sector, including co-founding and scaling a social enterprise that benefits thousands of people from conflict-affected communities. And he is a governance, policy, and financial regulations expert with two degrees from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. After leaving Syria, Baroudi struggled to access safe banking and saw the impact of unfair financial exclusion, which inspired him to start nsave.
Abdallah AbuHashem is nsave’s CTO. Before co-founding the company, he worked for several technology companies, including Microsoft and Robinhood. AbuHashem has won multiple awards and honors, including the George E. Forsythe Teaching Award from the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University, where he earned both his BS and MSc in computer science. Plus, he most recently completed a master’s degree from Oxford University in Social Science of the Internet where he focused on ethics and technology workers.
The proceeds from the seed funding are earmarked to expand nsave’s infrastructure, including scaling engineering and operations and expanding its successful beta pilot to thousands of additional customers.
The company noted that over 700 million people in struggling economies cannot access safe financial services or protect the value of their money due to inflation and unstable local banks. And these individuals lack access to safe financial products like international accounts, which are typically reserved for high-net-worth individuals.
KEY QUOTES:
“The reality is that if you come from a distressed country, the global banking system will discriminate against you and label you as a ‘high risk client’ and, in most cases, refuse to serve you simply because of where you come from. I have seen the impact of that unfair exclusion myself, and my loved ones have suffered because of this. We had to do something and innovate a better and more inclusive way of risk assessment in order for us to serve the people who desperately need access to safe financial service while making sure we comply with regulations.”
“We are grateful for the trust our investors have placed in us and our vision. This investment will accelerate our work, helping the middle class from distressed economies access safe financial services. nsave’s vision is to provide inclusive financial services to all, ensuring accessibility without any form of discrimination.”
“For instance, if you come from Lebanon, with its staggering 137.8% inflation rate, over 90% currency devaluation, and monthly withdrawal limits as low as $400, there are no secure options for financial security. This financial instability has pushed an estimated 80% of the population below the poverty line, with 36% in extreme poverty.”
“Many of us overlook these challenges. Basic financial privileges, taken for granted in high-income countries, are luxuries to a vast majority worldwide. As a result, misfortunes and heartbreak ensue – children are forced to abandon their education and parents are left stranded outside hospitals because their money lost value due to inflation and because they were unable to send payments internationally. It’s not a lack of funds, but the inability to access their money that causes these tragedies. Leveraging our proprietary technology and changes in the regulatory landscape, nsave can create a better life for thousands.”
– Amer Baroudi
“Developing a global product compliant with strict financial regulations is no easy task, not to mention building partnerships with banks – yet the nsave team have done just that. Now that nsave is live, there’s finally a trusted option to protect their users against the rampant inflation of distressed economies, providing safe, stable offshore accounts to people who need them the most.”
– George Robson, Partner Sequoia Capital
