Revolutionizing savings in Egypt with a substantial pre-seed investment, PALM sets out to make goal-oriented saving more accessible.
PALM, a Cairo-based Egyptian fintech startup, has recently secured a seven-figure pre-seed round of funding. Founded in 2024 by Mazen El Kerdany and Ahmed Ashour, PALM offers a unique goal-oriented savings platform designed to help users achieve personal financial goals such as education, healthcare, weddings, travel, and major purchases.
The platform combines curated investment strategies across fixed income, equities, and precious metals with behavioural rewards and partner merchant discounts, aiming to promote disciplined, long-term saving while potentially generating real investment returns and reducing spending.
The funding round was led by 4DX Ventures, with participation from Plus VC and international angel investors. This capital injection aims to accelerate PALM’s mission of transforming savings habits in Egypt and potentially expanding across the Mediterranean region.
PALM's key features include allowing users to define clear life goals that are matched with tailored investment portfolios for achieving those goals, behavioural nudges and incentives rewarding users for consistency and progress, diversified asset allocation to balance growth and safety, integrated merchant deals that increase savings value by reducing purchase costs for users, and access to curated, sustainable financial tools tailored to the largely informal Egyptian financial planning landscape.
While exact user metrics are not specified, PALM's funding and stated ambitions indicate a focus on scaling and becoming a trusted platform not just for saving but also for guiding financial decisions broadly across Egypt and possibly the Mediterranean region.
The startup's co-founders, El Kerdany and Ashour, bring extensive industry experience to the table. El Kerdany has overseen multi-billion-dollar investments at EFG Hermes and Beltone, while Ashour brings global experience from Amazon and Goldman Sachs.
PALM's innovative model aligns with Egypt's Vision 2030 objectives, especially in promoting financial inclusion and encouraging greater household involvement in capital markets. The platform is designed to help Egyptians manage their finances and achieve personal goals, addressing a vast amount of idle capital within the system, with bank deposits at approximately EGP 8 trillion, gold holdings approaching EGP 7 trillion, and real estate assets exceeding EGP 70 trillion.
The real challenge for PALM lies in scaling and proving its effectiveness. However, fintechs, like PALM, are moving beyond simple digitization to actively guiding users towards better financial planning and improved outcomes. As PALM continues to grow, it could play a significant role in formalizing Egypt's financial sector and empowering individuals to make informed financial decisions.
- PALM's goal-oriented savings platform, which combines investing in various financial markets with behavioral rewards, aims to promote financial inclusion by helping Egyptians manage their personal finances and achieve life goals, particularly education, healthcare, and major purchases.
- As technology continues to revolutionize the finance industry, PALM, a Cairo-based fintech startup, leverages education and self-development to guide users towards better financial planning, potentially transforming savings habits not only in Egypt but across the Mediterranean region.
- By offering tailored investment portfolios, integrated merchant deals, and curated, sustainable financial tools, PALM seeks to encourage greater household involvement in capital markets, contributing to Egypt's Vision 2030 objectives and possibly formalizing the financial sector, thus empowering individuals to make informed financial decisions.
