In an unprecedented achievement for the Egyptian fintech sector, Thndr, a leading retail investment appliation platform, has secured the top spot in the Financial Times’ ranking of the fastest-growing companies in Africa for 2026.
This recognition, achieved in collaboration with the global research firm Statista, makes Thndr the first Egyptian company to reach the top of this list since its inception – surpassing tech giants in major markets such as South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria.
Thndr’s international ranking is based on three crucial growth metrics during the period from 2021 to 2024: absolute revenue growth, compound annual growth rate (CAGR), and structural expansion of the company’s size, solidifying the platform’s position as an investment phenomenon that has transcended the boundaries of the local market.
This reflects Thndr’s dominance of the retail investment market in Egypt for the third consecutive year.
The platform has sparked a developmental revolution in a country where retail investors historically constituted less than 0.5 percent of the total population.
Since its launch, the app has surpassed 5.5 million downloads, and the most significant positive aspect is that 75 percent of this user base are first-time investors entering the world of finance and business.
The Financial Times report highlighted Thndr’s success in transforming investment from an “elite luxury” into a “popular savings tool” through a fully digital platform.
This platform allows for 100 percent digital account opening and offers a diversified investment portfolio including stocks, gold, mutual funds, and fixed-income instruments, supported by extensive educational content that demystifies the markets for beginners.
The numbers on the Egyptian Stock Exchange reflect this growing influence – Thndr currently accounts for approximately 18 percent of the total value of stock trading and controls 40 percent of the volume of orders executed in the market.
Thunderous growth
With a massive growth rate, the app now executes more than 200,000 trades daily – compared to only 50,000 a year ago.
This digital explosion has also achieved “geographical and social equity,” as more than 40 percent of users reside outside Cairo and Alexandria, with an average age of 30.
The application has also succeeded in attracting women to the investment arena, with women representing 12 percent of all accounts, a record high compared to traditional rates.
Thndr’s resounding local success has become a regional launchpad for shaping a new investment landscape for the Arab world.
Having established itself in Egypt, the company began its international expansion plan by entering the Abu Dhabi market in 2025, becoming the first and only fully licensed remote trading broker from the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
In its next step, Thndr aims to conquer the Saudi market, replicating its successful model of expanding individual participation and breaking down traditional barriers between ordinary citizens and global financial markets (Egyptian, Emirati, and American).
Thndr is demonstrating that the region’s financial future is now being written on smartphone screens by purely Egyptian talent.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
