Egyptian-Led AI Fintech MidLyr Raises $2.5M To Expand Into The Middle East

MidLyr, an AI infrastructure platform co-founded by Egyptian-born Wael Elsahhar, has successfully raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed funding round. The round was led by prominent MENA-focused venture capital firm Silicon Badia, with participation from Wedbush Ventures, Hustle Fund, DCG, and Story Ventures. The US-based startup is set to redefine how banks and fintechs operate by building intelligent, compliant automation tools and will leverage the new capital to expand its team and partnerships in Egypt and the wider MENA region.

Re-Architecting Financial Operations

MidLyr aims to overhaul the rigid workflows and manual controls prevalent in financial institutions. The company’s platform brings intelligence and structure to complex processes by aligning AI agents directly with regulations, policies, and operational data. This creates a new class of “bank-grade” automation that allows financial teams to translate policy text into compliant AI workflows for processes like issue resolution, risk reviews, and marketing compliance.

“Banking is one of the largest sectors in the economy, and 60-70% of its revenue is spent just keeping operations running,” said Wael Elsahhar, CEO and Co-Founder of MidLyr. “Despite this, there are still no fit-for-purpose tools for the people actually running those operations. MidLyr’s mission is to give bank operators the intelligent, compliant tools they deserve—so they can serve customers better and reduce risk.”

Investor Confidence

The funding round was led by Silicon Badia, a firm with deep experience in the fintech sector. The investment underscores a strong belief in MidLyr’s unique approach to a complex and highly regulated industry.

“We invested in MidLyr because they’re not just adding AI to banking—they’re re-architecting how banks run,” said Namek Zu’bi, Founder & Managing Partner at Silicon Badia. “Their approach combines technical depth with a deep understanding of financial operations, and that’s what it takes to build enduring infrastructure in this space. Wael and Ruochen have the experience and credibility to cut through the AI-hype, and deliver products that bank leaders can trust.”

A Bridge Between US and MENA Talent

Founded by Wael Elsahhar and Ruochen Ren, the MidLyr team brings extensive experience from building core banking infrastructure at leading US fintechs and tech giants like Amazon. With the new funding, the company plans to accelerate product development and deepen its partnerships with banks and fintechs. A key part of its strategy involves building a distributed team and tapping into the region’s talent pool.

“We are excited about building a team across the US and the Middle East. We are betting on the depth of talent in engineering and data science in the region as a core long-term differentiator,” commented Elsahhar. The company is actively hiring for roles in engineering, data science, design, and compliance.

About MidLyr

MidLyr is an AI infrastructure platform building a new foundation for how banks and fintechs operate. By aligning AI agents directly with regulations and internal data, MidLyr creates a new class of bank-grade automation that financial teams can trust. This allows institutions to safely automate complex processes, from issue resolution to marketing asset reviews, all within compliant boundaries.

Source: Waya