KashNow Shifts From Consumer Fintech App to Integrated Financial Platform for Businesses
KashNow is reshaping its business model around corporate financial services, moving beyond its origins as a digital finance app toward a broader platform that combines payments, payroll, enterprise software and access to financing under the umbrella of Noqood Holding.
The shift comes as the company prepares to launch prepaid cards after securing initial approval from the Central Bank of Egypt to issue them in partnership with an Egyptian bank. Final regulatory and technical requirements are still being completed before the service can go live.
Amr Salem, CEO of KashNow and Acting Head of Technology at Noqood Holding, said the company’s strategy has evolved significantly since its establishment in 2021.
KashNow initially operated as a digital financial services application offering a range of services through specialist partners, but has since redirected its focus toward corporate solutions, particularly payroll management and salary disbursement for small, medium-sized and micro businesses.
The change reflects a broader opportunity the company sees among businesses that remain only partially integrated into the formal banking system.
According to Salem, KashNow wants to give those companies a simpler way to manage payroll and financial operations while bringing more businesses and employees into regulated digital financial channels.
Prepaid cards become the gateway
The planned KashNow prepaid card will form a central part of that model.
Employees will be able to receive their salaries through the system, withdraw cash from ATMs, make purchases and online payments, receive transfers through InstaPay and transfer money between KashNow cards without fees. Balances and transaction history will also be accessible through the KashNow app.
The company is positioning the card as more than a salary disbursement tool, however.
KashNow is also developing an enterprise resource management system known as Actors, which it plans to connect with its payroll and card infrastructure, creating a more integrated digital environment for businesses rather than a standalone payments product.
That is where the company’s broader transformation becomes more visible.
Instead of competing only as a consumer-facing fintech application, KashNow is attempting to embed itself in the day-to-day financial and administrative operations of businesses.
Technology on one side, financing on the other
KashNow’s position within Noqood Holding gives the strategy another dimension.
Salem described KashNow as the group’s technology arm, while Noqood Finance focuses on financing small and medium-sized enterprises. Bringing the two together is intended to create what the group describes as an integrated financial ecosystem combining technology with funding.
That structure could eventually allow businesses to access connected services covering administration, payments, payroll and financing through companies operating within the same group.
The model also reflects a wider shift across fintech, where providers are increasingly trying to move beyond single-purpose applications and build deeper relationships with businesses through interconnected financial and software services.
Regulatory approval remains the next key step
KashNow has already developed what Salem described as a secure and scalable platform and has built a disaster-recovery framework around it.
The company has also renewed its PCI DSS compliance certification for a fourth time and says it is operating in line with Central Bank of Egypt requirements covering cybersecurity and technology risk management.
The initial approval for prepaid cards is therefore an important milestone, but not the final one.
KashNow must still complete the remaining requirements before securing final approval and launching the cards commercially.
Salem said the company’s first measure of success will not simply be the number of cards issued, but whether businesses and employees use the system consistently and whether KashNow can maintain service quality as adoption grows.
AI and data become part of the operating model
Technology will also play a larger role as the platform expands.
KashNow has teams working across software development, artificial intelligence and data analytics, capabilities Salem said will be used to adapt products to changing customer needs and market conditions.
The company is already exploring opportunities beyond payroll, including financial services for microenterprises and their workers, subject to the required regulatory frameworks and partnerships.
That segment could become particularly important because many micro businesses still operate heavily in cash and outside fully integrated digital financial systems.
Egypt first, Africa later
Despite its wider ambitions, KashNow is keeping its immediate attention on Egypt.
Salem said the domestic market remains the company’s priority because of its scale and the remaining room for growth in fintech and digital transformation.
Regional expansion is nevertheless part of the longer-term plan, with several African markets seen as natural candidates because they face similar challenges around financial access, SME digitization and fragmented business payments.
For KashNow, the transition therefore goes well beyond adding another prepaid card.
The company is trying to reposition itself around the financial life of a business — managing employees, payroll and payments through technology while connecting those operations to financing capabilities elsewhere within Noqood Holding.
If that strategy succeeds, KashNow’s next phase will look considerably different from the app with which it entered the market in 2021.