Mobile wallet player BEAM was recently acquired by Majid Al Futtaim, a Dubai based property firm which owns and operates 23 shopping malls, 13 hotels and 4 mixed-use communities.

The acquisition comes with full ownership of Beam’s IP rights, branding and e-wallet services across the region. BEAM is far from the property firm’s first investment into tech startups, as recent as last month Majid Al Fultaim invested $US 30 Million into Wadi Grocery, an online grocery delivery platform.

The move to acquire BEAM is likely part of the group’s wider strategy to enable an omni-channel experience. Currently the mobile wallet is already usable in Majid Al Futtaim’s fashion and home retail stores and will be expanded across the groups other retail outlets in 2019.

The group is also looking at expanding Beam’s offering outside of its own ecosystem across the region, which in theory could provide invaluable data on its customers spending habits that was previously not available to them.