Sympl, a buy now pay later platform, aims to double the volume of its operations over the next year to reach about EGP 200m, increase the number of customers to about 40,000 customers by the end of 2023, and achieve profitability by the end of 2024.
Mohamed El-Feky, the co-founder of Sympl, said that the company will increase the size of its operations to EGP 100m and the number of customers will reach about 20,000 by the end of this year. The company has a liquidity of about 50% of the financing obtained, estimated at about $6m.
The company is currently preparing for a new financing round after the stability of conditions globally, indicating that there is a direct impact on financing operations due to the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates, and the energy crisis in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, which could benefit from attracting investments.
He told Daily News Egypt, that the company succeeded last year in obtaining $6m in financing from 3 venture capital companies, Beco Capital, A15, and Global Ventures in exchange for shares, and the company employs the financing in its operations.
He stated that, according to the company’s latest financing round, its valuation reached about $25m and it aims to reach the break-even point and then achieve profitability by the end of 2024.
He said that the success of the business model on which Sympl relies is the speed of the working capital cycle at a rate of 3 times per year, and the company will need financing by the end of next year to increase the growth process, pointing to achieving a total profit of up to 8%, and is working to increase it from by increasing the turnover of working capital.
The platform is witnessing an increase in the number of customers by between 5 and 8% per month, while operations are increasing by 15%, and the average financing provided by the company is about EGP 3,500 while the maximum financing is EGP 30,000 and the company has already contracted with about 340 merchants with a total of 2,500 points.
He explained that more than 80% of the platform’s sales come through stores, while the percentage of online sales is about 15%, most of which are concentrated in clothes, sports shoes, and light furniture.
In its financing, the platform follows the model of charging administrative fees at the same rate on any transaction, regardless of its value, and estimating the size of the expenses depends on the payment plan, which ranges between 3 and 5 payments, and it finances the bank customer, to use the bank cards on the platform to enhance the state’s orientation towards a cashless society.
He pointed out that inflation led to the increase in demand for goods, but the lack of supply of goods causes a large number of operations to be incomplete, and the biggest challenge is currently providing goods.
He added that most technology companies around the world have witnessed a decline in their valuations recently, and most of the companies whose valuations have decreased are trading their shares in the financial markets, which were affected by the repercussions of the global economy, especially the Russian-Ukrainian war.
He pointed out that the decline in the value of technology shares does not reflect their financial or internal performance, but rather reflects the state of the markets currently, which is suffering from a decline due to a large number of investors withdrawing liquidity and directing it to other investment vessels, but it is an indication of the investor’s orientation, not the company.
