Dubai-headquartered open banking startup Tarabut Gateway has raised US$12 million in a pre-Series A fundraise, the company announced in a statement today.

The round was led by Tiger Global. It was joined by new backers Dubai International Fintech Fund, an investment vehicle by the Dubai International Financial Centre.

Funding will be used to expand the company’s tech and leadership teams.

The investment takes Tarabut Gateway’s total funding to US$25 million. Just this year, the startup raised US$13 million in one of the largest seed funding rounds to have emerged from the MENA region.

With the round, Tarabut Gateway joins other open banking startups in Tiger Global’s portfolio, including UK’s Truelayer and Africa’s Mono.

Launched in 2019 in Bahrain, the startup eventually moved its HQ to the UAE, with offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It also has an office in the UK.

“The MENA region is a complex web of countries and regulations. This makes it a challenging area to serve with any single overarching financial product whilst remaining compliant in a highly developed landscape with many differing markets.

 

I’m glad to say this round is living proof that Tarabut Gateway is successfully pioneering in developing a cutting-edge solution for banks and fintechs in the region,”

Abdulla Almoayed, founder and CEO of Tarabut Gateway, said.

Tarabut Gateway provides a universal banking API that allows banks and fintech companies to provide personalised financial services. It’s open banking platform, based on a public facing API, provides a range of services such as third party onboarding, regulatory reporting and consent management.

More recently, it also launched TG Pay, an open banking-API based instant payments solution, which the company said has already been deployed with regional banks.

Other companies in the quickly growing open banking landscape in the MENA region include Lean from Saudi Arabia, and Dapi in the UAE.

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