AMAN, Bokra and Erada Join Egypt Venture Debt Programme

STARTUP VENTURE CAPITALSeptember 14, 2026 at 5:17 PM UTC

TLDR

Aman Holding, Bokra, and Erada Finance collaborate to expand venture debt financing for Egyptian scaleups under the Scale It Forward program.
This initiative aims to provide growth-stage companies access to capital without the need to sell additional equity, offering €5,000 in venture debt matched with non-repayable support.
Targeting sectors like fintech, agritech, healthtech, and more, the program helps businesses beyond the startup phase access financing through strategic partnerships.

AMAN Holding, Bokra and Erada Finance have joined a programme designed to expand venture debt financing for Egyptian scaleups. The 3 institutions signed framework agreements with enpact under Scale It Forward, an initiative developed with GIZ Egypt to give growing companies access to capital without requiring founders to sell more equity.

The programme will help participating lenders design and test venture debt products while giving them access to a pipeline of growth-stage companies. Scale It Forward plans to work with 5 financial institutions and 30 scaleups. Each institution is expected to select 6 businesses for the pilot.

Selected companies will receive at least €5,000 in venture debt from a participating financial institution, matched by €5,000 in non-repayable support through the programme. They will also receive training focused on financial planning, governance, cash-flow management and preparation for debt financing.

The programme targets businesses that have moved beyond the earliest startup stage and generate revenue but may not qualify for traditional bank loans because of collateral requirements or limited operating histories. Target sectors include fintech, agritech, healthtech, e-commerce, climate technology and digital services.

Scale It Forward is implemented by GIZ Egypt and enpact under Germany’s Invest for Jobs initiative. The pilot is intended to test whether venture debt can become another source of growth capital in Egypt alongside equity, bank lending and other financing instruments.

Key Takeaways

The programme is small in initial ticket size, but its main purpose is to build a market rather than finance large expansion rounds immediately. Egyptian startups raised about $614 million across different financing instruments in 2025, but equity remains a common source of capital for technology companies. That can create a problem for founders who need money to expand but do not want to sell another part of their company each time they raise funds. Venture debt provides another option for businesses with revenue and enough cash-flow visibility to repay a loan. For lenders, however, technology companies can be harder to assess than traditional borrowers because they often have few physical assets to use as collateral. Scale It Forward tries to address both sides of that problem. Companies receive support to improve financial reporting and repayment readiness, while AMAN, Bokra and Erada can test lending models with a selected pipeline and part of the risk supported by grants. The larger test will come after the pilot. If the participating institutions can lend to scaleups and recover their money at acceptable rates, they may increase ticket sizes and make venture debt a regular product. That could give Egyptian founders more choice between debt and equity as their companies grow.

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