payroll-lending
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OneBlinc Bet on Payroll Loans. Then the Money Got Expensive.
The Miami fintech built a data engine around public-sector payroll loans, raised a $100 million credit facility, and then watched higher rates squeeze the model. Its answer was a fast pivot to a smaller, subscription-priced payday bridge - and a revealing lesson in knowing when your first product has become your baggage.
MNT-Halan
MNT-Halan is an Egyptian fintech that digitally banks the unbanked and underbanked across emerging markets. Founded by Mounir Nakhla, it combines microfinance, consumer and business lending, buy-now-pay-later, mobile wallets, payments and an FMCG/appliance e-commerce marketplace into a single app, all powered by its proprietary Neuron core-banking technology. It became Egypt's first fintech unicorn in 2023 and now operates across Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan and the UAE, having disbursed billions of dollars in loans to millions of customers.