Fintech Galaxy has raised US$2 million in a seed round, according to a recent statement.

The funding round was led by Jordan-based Ahli Fintech, with participation from Raz Holding Group, OMQ Investments, Egypt’s EFG EV Fintech and INSEAD Saudi Angel Investors.

The funding will be used to boost the development and rollout of the company’s Open Finance platform, and also expand its presence across the MENA region, the statement said. The cross-border cloud-based platform provides open API infrastructure to facilitate integration between fintechs and institutions.

According to the statement, “Fintech Galaxy’s API Sandbox” was used by “many government bodies, banks and hundreds of fintechs” for “innovation activities and proof of concepts.”

Customer data from partner banks can be made available through open banking APIs built by Fintech Galaxy, allowing developers to build new apps and services around this data.

Fintech Galaxy was founded in 2018 by CEO Mirna Sleiman. It has offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.

“For several years now, the financial sector of the MENA region has been abuzz with the concepts of ‘Open Banking’ and ‘Open Finance’.

 

Our vision is to provide not only the technology infrastructure but rather enable the whole ecosystem to access data and payment channels via a unified API gateway and support financial institutions in their compliance with international and local Open Banking frameworks. This is a natural development of our Open Innovation platform and services,”

Sleiman said in the statement.

Open banking and finance is a trending theme in the MENA region’s fintech landscape, especially in the Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and UAE markets.

Initiatives such as the Bahrain Open Banking Framework and Saudi’s Open Banking Policy, startups such as Tarabut Gateway, Lean and Dapi, and even enterprises such as Batelco, are all contributing to growing interest in this space.

Featured image credit: Fintech Galaxy