Six fintech startups from the Middle East made this year’s Fintech 250, CB Insights’ annual list of the 250 most promising private fintech companies in the world. The 250 winners were selected from a pool of over 12,500 eligible private companies based on CB Insights’ internal benchmarks as well as analyst briefings submitted by applicants. Factors that were taken into account include funding, market potential, business relationships, investor profile, news sentiment analysis, competitive landscape, team strength, and tech novelty. According to CB Insights, globalisation is a key theme for this year’s Fintech 250 with winners headquartered in 33 countries across…

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has added four open banking startups to its regulatory sandbox, bringing the number of companies currently operating under the sandbox to 27. 42 companies have been granted permits to operate under the regulatory sandbox to date, of which 15 have graduated by obtaining full authorisations and licenses. The previous batch of open banking startups—Mod5r and Lean Technologies—were granted permits in August 2022. SAMA’s regulatory sandbox was launched in 2018 as part of its efforts to support the Financial Sector Development Programme and the Saudi Vision 2030. The central bank recently updated the sandbox’s framework to…

Saudi-based point of sale startup NearPay has closed a US$3.6 million pre-series A funding round led by Vision Ventures, with participation from Hala Ventures, Arzan VC, Palm Ventures, and angel investors. Founded in 2020, NearPay provides a solution that allows merchants to accept payments through their mobile phones without the need for specialised hardware such as payment terminals. The company has over 15 clients and it has also obtained security certificates for all payment networks including the MasterCard Level 3 MTip Certification and VISA Level 3 Certification. The latest funding will be used to enhance NearPay’s offering as well as expand…

Digital bank Wio has partnered with Meydan Free Zone to provide digital banking services to startups, freelancers, and small and medium enterprises operating in the free zone. Meydan Free Zone is a digital free zone in Dubai which was founded in 2009. The free zone issues Free Zone Limited Liability Company (FZ-LLC) licenses which allows for complete foreign ownership. Wio is an Abu Dhabi-based startup which launched its digital banking app for businesses in September 2022. One of its board members made headlines recently for launching a new US$200 million venture fund. The partnership agreement was signed by Wio’s Chief…

Emirates Post Group announced that it will launch its new fintech arm FINTX later this month during the annual Gulf Information Technology Exhibition or Gitex Global 2022 event in Dubai. FINTX will contribute to the UAE’s fintech ecosystem by transforming the Emirates Post Group’s existing financial services companies, as well as on launching new ventures and partnerships. Headquartered in Dubai, Emirates Post Group manages and operates the Emirates’ postal service and is responsible for licensing all postal, courier and logistics services in the UAE. The group’s existing financial services companies include UAE exchange house Wall Street Exchange Centre which was…

The Bank of Israel, Norges Bank, Sveriges Riksbank and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) are launching Project Icebreaker to explore how central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) can be used for international retail and remittance payments. The project aims to develop a hub to which participating central banks can connect their domestic proof-of-concept CBDC system to test the technological feasibility of interlinking different domestic CBDC systems. The architecture is designed to enable immediate retail CBDC payments across borders at a significantly lower cost than existing corresponding banking systems. The project will run through the end of the year, with a…

Five fintech companies made LinkedIn’s second annual top startups list featuring 10 companies in the UAE that it says is gaining attention. The ranking was produced using LinkedIn data in four areas: employee growth, jobseeker interest, employee engagement, and their ability to attract talent from other top companies. #2 – Postpay (Dubai) Postpay offers financial support services allowing online shoppers to split their payments into installments. The company has also announced plans to expand to other Gulf markets beyond the UAE. #6 – Tabby (Riyadh) Tabby is a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) app that operates in the UAE, Saudi…

BNPL shopping app Tabby and payments company Paymob have partnered to enable in-store and online retailers in Egypt to benefit from Tabby’s Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) payment solution via Paymob’s gateway. Tabby, which was founded in the UAE in 2019, says that it has more than two million active users and 6,000 merchants in its network. The company also claims to have helped merchants increase their average order value by 33%, their overall conversion rate by 18% and their returning customers by 40%. Founded in Egypt in 2015, Paymob’s primarily serves the North African region, providing over 30 online and…

The Dubai Sustainable Finance Working Group (DSFWG) has introduced a self-assessment tool for companies to measure the maturity of their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies and practices. The tool was developed in-line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and Global Reporting Initiative standards, with experts from entities such as Aramex, ENOC, and Dubai Islamic Bank. The assessment will benchmark companies against five levels of maturity and help them have conversations around how to increase their ESG maturity. The DSFWG was established in 2019 by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Dubai Financial Market (DFM), and includes a…

Open banking platform Fintech Galaxy announced the addition of executive team members as it looks to ramp up its product offering and presence across the region, especially in the UAE, Saudi and Bahrain. This most notably included the appointment of open banking company Salt Edge’s former CEO and Co-Founder Dmitrii Barbasura as Fintech Galaxy’s new Chief Operating Officer, and the appointment of Iaroslav Babenco as its Chief Financial Officer. Other appointments include Cristian Gheorghita as Sales Director, as well as three additions to its compliance and data aggregation team, one to its legal team and one to its public relations…

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ has launched a new venture capital firm called Further Ventures, serving as the anchor investor in its first US$200 million fund. Further Ventures describes itself as a venture building and investment firm that invests in early stage startups with a focus on fintech, digital assets and supply chains. The firm is headed by Faisal Al Hammadi, who was previously “Executive Director, Incubation” at ADQ and CTO of ADQ subsidiary Silas. Faisal also sits on the board of recently-launched digital banking app Wio and entrepreneur community Endeavor, and chairs media company twofour54. “Over the past year…

The Dubai International Financial Centre’s (DIFC) Fintech Hive has launched Sprint B of its 2022 Fintech Accelerator Programme featuring 21 startups from around the world. Launched in 2017, the DIFC Fintech Hive is an initiative under the DIFC Innovation Hub. The latest cohort includes startups working in payments, regtech, wealthtech, KYC, trade finance and other related areas. Here are the 21 startups in the latest accelerator programme:

Tel Aviv-based fintech Noble, the no-code platform for credit products, has raised US$18 million in Series A funding led by US venture capital firm Insight Partners. Cross River Digital Ventures, Y Combinator, Flexport Fund, TLV Partners, Operator Partners, Verissimo Ventures, Interplay Ventures, Plug and Play, and the George Kaiser Family Foundation also participated in the round. Noble plans to use the funding to open a US office and expand its offerings to help companies build, launch and scale credit-based products and services like credit cards and BNPL. Founded in 2021, Noble’s platform enables companies to manage the entire underwriting flows…

Dubai-based payments company noqodi has partnered with Mastercard to allow consumers and businesses to make and accept contactless payments. The partnership will see the integration of noqodi’s payments solutions with Mastercard Payment Gateway Services to allow customers to tap their card or device to make payments through a merchant’s phone. noqodi was first launched in 2019 as a digital wallet to facilitate government service fee payments. Its parent company emaratech—which is part of the Investment Corporation of Dubai—handles over 50,000 transactions a day including the issuance of visas, national IDs, and other services across the UAE. The partnership is in…

Israeli social investing platform eToro has added environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores for over 2,700 stocks on its platform, enabling users to consider ESG factors when building their portfolios. The scores—calculated by combining market news, NGO signals and company-reported information—are provided and rebalanced daily by sustainability data provider ESG Book. The scoring system is presented through a traffic light system, with assets labeled as green, amber or red based on their overall ESG rating. The system also flags if more than five percent of a company’s revenues are associated with areas such as adult entertainment, fossil fuels, guns or…

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) will start piloting the use of the “crypto-rial” — its central bank digital currency this week, according to an announcemeent on the Iran Chamber of Commerce’s website. The announcement further states that one of the crypto-rial’s main features is its high security as it has been designed in a way that allows it to be tracked even if a user’s phone has been hacked. According to earlier CBI statements and a draft whitepaper, the crypto-rial is planned as a new type of the national currency, like banknotes and coins, though it would be completely…

Crypto platform Binance has received the Minimal Viable Product (MVP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), after receiving a provisional license in March 2022 which allowed it to provide only a limited range of services to pre-qualified investors. The MVP means that Binance can open a client money account with a domestic bank and offer virtual asset services including transfers, custody and management, token offering and trading, payments and remittance, and conversion between virtual assets and fiat currencies. VARA was established in March 2022 under the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulation Law, to regulate virtual assets and protect investors.…

Israeli social investing platform eToro has received an in-principle approval from the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to operate as a securities, derivatives and crypto broker in Abu Dhabi. The company expects to subsequently obtain a Financial Services Permission from the ADGM which would allow it to establish a base from which to offer its services to customers across the region. Founded in 2007, eToro’s now boasts over 30 million registered users. Users can hold traditional assets such as equities, currencies, ETFs, or commodities, as well as newer assets like cryptoassets. “With the full licence in place, more investors in…

Verity has launched its family banking and financial literacy app, with a prepaid Visa card to enable children from the age of eight to start building their personal finance skills in a real-life environment. The platform allows parents to control the overall family account while giving each child the option to create and manage their profile. Parents can top up their digital wallets directly from their bank accounts and then allocate a set amount to each user in the family through pre-scheduled monthly or weekly allowance or one-off transfers. Children also have the option to ‘earn’ money by completing chores…

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has granted e-commerce payment licenses to Arab Sea Financial Company and Fatoraah, bringing the total number of payment companies licensed by the central bank to 21 companies. This comes in addition to five payment companies that have been granted “in-principle approvals”, as well as 38 companies operating under the central bank’s regulatory sandbox. The Arab Sea Financial Company is a newly-established initiative under Saudi-listed information technology company Arab Sea Information Systems. Further information on Fatoraah could not be found. SAMA emphasised the importance of dealing with financial institutions that comply with its regulatory requirements to ensure…