Munify offers Egyptians abroad in the U.S., U.K., Europe, and the Gulf a platform for instant money transfers at better rates and enables businesses and remote workers in Egypt to open U.S. bank accounts with just a local ID.

Ashmawy successfully raised $3 million for Munify, targeting the Egyptian diaspora with its innovative financial platform.

The article emphasizes the ongoing issues with traditional remittance methods, highlighting the need for more efficient digital solutions for migrant communities.

Munify builds its own banking rails and directly connects banking systems across countries, enabling quicker cross-border transactions and gaining early adoption through word of mouth.

Egypt receives nearly $30 billion annually in remittances, but conventional options like Western Union are costly and slow, creating demand for digital alternatives.

Munify's business model includes services for individuals—such as remittances and banking—and APIs for companies, with projected monthly cross-border volume exceeding $50 million.

Y Combinator invested in Munify due to the urgent need to address the remittance problem, aligning with its history of supporting financial infrastructure startups, despite a recent focus on AI.

Despite Ashmawy's experience working at major tech companies and founding startups, he found the remittance process remained inefficient and in need of innovation.

Ashmawy's motivation to create Munify was driven by his personal experience with costly and slow remittances when sending money from Europe to Egypt.

Munify aims to solve the pain points of expensive and time-consuming cross-border transfers for Egyptians living abroad.

His own experiences studying in Europe and working in the U.S. highlighted the need for better remittance solutions.

The startup plans to expand regionally across the Middle East, connecting more banking rails and serving additional markets.

Munify joined Y Combinator's Summer 2025 batch and raised $3 million in seed funding from YC and regional investors, including BYLD and DCG.

Khalid Ashmawy, a former Microsoft and Uber engineer, founded Munify, a neobank focused on providing faster, cheaper cross-border remittance services for Egyptians abroad and banking access within Egypt.