Egypt-focused B2B2C payments platform dopay has secured US$18 million in a Series A funding round, the company announced in a statement last week. The company is based out of London and currently caters to its initial market Egypt. Force Over Mass Capital, FMO and NN Group led the round. Meanwhile, participating investors included Mbuyu Capital and Alder Tree Investments. Funding will be used to scale in Egypt, and also build a suite of financial services to top the company’s currently available cashless payroll and prepaid employee cards. The company also has plans to expand across the MENA region. The company’s…

Saudi Arabia-based digital payment and POS solutions startup CashIn has raised SAR 6 million, or US$1.6 million, in a seed funding round, the company said in a statement. The round was led by Investor Mine, according to the statement. Saudi VC firm BIM Ventures also participated in the round, along with angel investors. Funding will be used to expand the startup’s network, and build partnerships with banks and stakeholders. CashIn provides a fully integrated digital payments and e-invoicing platform for merchants to receive payments and manage sales. The Saudi startup was founded only this year by Omar Al-Rammah, Obay Al-Madhi…

New York-based Israeli B2B payments platform Melio has tripled its valuation to US$4 billion with its latest fundraise of US$250 million in a Series D, according to a statement. The round was co-led by Thrive Capital and existing backers of the company General Catalyst. Participating investors included Tiger Global Management, alongside existing investors Accel, Bessemer Venture Partners, Coatue, Corner Ventures, and Latitude. The funding will be used to boost expansion efforts, including partnerships with financial institutions, software as a service (SaaS) providers, and marketplaces interested in B2B payments. General Catalyst Chairperson and Managing Director Ken Chenault will be joining Melio’s…

Fintech sandboxes are a popular way for regulatory authorities in the Middle East to play their part in supporting fintech innovation. Sandboxes are testing environments where entrepreneurs and innovators can experiment with their solution in a controlled space. This allows them to develop and tweak their solution accordingly, while giving regulators control over new entrants in the market. For the Middle East, where many countries have comprehensive regulatory regimes and a tightly controlled banking and financial sector, sandboxes are an ideal way to introduce startup innovations into the market while holding the reins. Fintech sandboxes in the Middle East are…

US-Israeli AI fintech company Pagaya is going public via a SPAC merger with EJF Acquisition Corp (EJFA), according to a statement. The combined company will be valued at around US$8.5 billion. The merger is expected to close in early 2022, depending on shareholder approvals and other closing conditions. Existing Pagaya equity holders will control about 94% of the merged company. The deal involves US$288 million from EJFA’s cash in trust. It also includes US$200 million from a fully committed private placement in public equity (PIPE) from EJFA-associated entities. This will close along with the merger. Additional financing transactions may be…

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst of change in the payment industry landscape, a new reality that’s here to stay, recent research shows. Over the past two years, the total value of digital payment transactions in the UAE have more than doubled to reach US$18.5 billion in 2020, according to fintech giant Stripe, which announced its entry into the Middle East market in April 2021, launching its Dubai office. Two-thirds of UAE residents expect the country to become fully cashless by 2030, a 2020 poll by Standard Chartered showed. The rise in the…

Last week in Middle East fintech news, the DIFC announced that it had reached its 2024 target of tripling in size three years ahead of schedule (Fintech News). The 10-year long ‘2024 Strategy,’ announced in 2014, was aimed at placing the DIFC amongst the top 10 financial centres across the world, growing the number of financial firms to 1,000, and total companies by 3x. Last week, the DIFC announced that it had successfully reached this target with a total of 3,292 companies registered with the DIFC. In other Middle East fintech news last week, Bahrain achieved a stellar growth record…

Kashat, an Egyptian micro loan solutions provider, has raised US$1.75 million in a new bridge funding round, Magnitt reported. The round was led by pan-African VC fund Launch Africa Ventures, and had “key” regional investors participate, the report said. This included existing backers of the company Cairo Angels. The fresh funds will be used to develop Kashat’s platform and expand operations. Earlier this year, Kashat raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Cairo Angels, two months after it launched its mobile app for short term loans in February. Kashat has built a mobile platform for micro lending Kashat is a…

UAE-based healthcare financing solution Klaim has fetched US$1.6 million in a pre-Series A funding round, according to an announcement by the company. The round was led by Mad’a Investments, a private equity firm in Saudi Arabia. It also received participation from Arzan Venture Capital and Wealth Well, and from existing backer Techstars, as well as strategic angel investors. The 2019-founded company will use the funds to drive its growth in Saudi Arabia, it said. Klaim had announced its plans to expand in the country earlier this year, after it raised US$1 million in a seed funding round in March. Klaim…

Egyptian financial and logistics super app MNT-Halan has secured US$120 million from private equity and venture capital investors, the company announced in a statement today. The funding was raised from Apis Growth Fund II by Apis Partners, Development Partners International, through its African Development Partner III fund, and Lorax Capital Partners’ Lorax Fund II. They were joined by Middle East Venture Partners, Endeavor Catalyst, and DisruptTech. This is Apis Partners’ maiden investment in Egypt. The funding will help the company enhance its technology and product development, scale its business, and expand beyond Egypt. The MNT-Halan super app provides a host…

Cashless payments in Bahrain jumped to US$3.62 billion in H1 2021, according to the latest figures from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). Over 53 million digital payment transactions were recorded in the country during the period. The boom in cashless payments in Bahrain continued into August as well, the CBB revealed today. Point of sale (POS) and ecommerce transactions surged in number by 65% year on year last month. They reached a total value of about US$744 million through over 11.3 million digital transactions in the month, continuing the trend from H1 2021. This reflected a growth in value…

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has achieved its ‘2024 Strategy’ growth targets three years ahead of schedule. The 2024 Strategy was announced in 2014, and since then, the DIFC has tripled the number of active registered companies in the financial district, according to a recent announcement. The DIFC registered 492 new companies in H1 2021, an increase of 59% from the same period last year. Total active registered companies in the DIFC now stands at 3,292, an increase of 27% year-on-year. Of these, 1,025 companies are financial and innovation related, a growth of 25% from last year. The financial…

In last week’s Middle East fintech news, we saw an Israeli spend management platform land a hefty funding deal, and a couple of high points for fintech in the UAE, amidst wider regional developments. Israeli spending and procurement platform PayEm emerged out of stealth last week, announcing a total funding of US$27 million (TechCrunch). The total capital comprises US$7 million in seed funding, led by Pitango First and NFX, and US$20 million in Series A funding led by Glilot Capital Partners. PayEm’s solution helps to automate reimbursement, procurement, accounts payable and credit card workflows, and manage requests, invoices, bills and…

It has been a blockbuster year so far for Israeli fintech funding, according to the latest from Start-up Nation Central. It revealed that US$2.3 billion was raised in Israeli fintech funding through venture capital and private equity deals in the first half of the year, in its Fintech H1/2021 Report. Not only is this three times more than what was raised in the same period last year, but it also beats the 2020 annual total by 30%. Further, Israeli fintech funding in H1 this year also surpassed the 2019 total, which was the previous record year. Of the total US$2.3…

Forbes recently released its list of top Middle East fintech apps for the year, and the list includes some illustrious names from the region’s fintech sector. Some of the region’s biggest financial institutions have been featured in the list, such as Al Ansari Exchange and Al Mulla Exchange. At the same time, up-and-coming fintech startups that have been grabbing eyeballs in recent times also find themselves in the list of top Middle East fintech apps. The list is based on money executed through the Middle East fintech apps in 2020, number of downloads and active users, date of establishment, and…

Pakistani fintech startups are making their mark in what is a relatively small but growing startup ecosystem. In Q1 this year, Pakistani fintech startups fetched funding of US$19.3 million in what Bloomberg called a fintech “startup funding rush.” Of this, US$15 million came from foreign investors, who ploughed US$48 million into Pakistani fintech startups last year. With interest in the sector booming, here are our top 8 Pakistani fintech startups to watch in 2021. While some have been featured by us previously, several of these are new entrants, founded in the COVID era. Top Pakistani Fintech Startups Finja Industry: Digital…

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), Buna and Visa have signed an MoU to collaborate over regional payments between the Arab world and the rest of the world, according to a recent statement. The MoU makes way for a mutual interoperability between Visa and Buna, an AMF-owned regional cross-border payment platform. It also looks to add additional rails of money transfer between the two systems and offer diversified payout options as well. Buna’s payment system allows financial institutions and central banks in the Arab region to send and receive payments in both local and select international currencies. Launched in February last…

Indian B2B digital payments company PayMate has announced its entry into the UAE market. The company will be stepping foot into the UAE in collaboration with Visa and Citi, according to a statement. The move is part of an existing collaboration between Visa and PayMate. With the move, PayMate will be extending automated payments and cash flow management to enterprises and their vendors in the UAE. PayMate provides B2B payment automation and working capital solutions. In addition to the UAE, the company is looking to expand into the CEMEA region as a Visa certified Business Payment Solution Provider. PayMate automates…

hala, an Abu Dhabi-based insurtech company, has secured US$5 million in a fresh fundraise, the company announced in a statement. The round was led by Entrée Capital, and saw participation from Mubadala Investment Company, EQ2 Ventures, Global Founders Capital, 500 Startups, and Hambro Perks Oryx Fund. hala, previously Addenda, was founded in 2018 as a fintech company that used blockchain to reconcile payments between motor insurance companies in the UAE. In Q4 2020, the company pivoted to providing motor insurance. Funding will be used to grow the company’s product suite, including home insurance, the company said in the statement. Further,…

Last year, global financial markets saw retail investors flood financial markets through online trading and investing platforms. A wave of first-time investors, dubbed “Generation Investor,” took to financial markets, as barriers to entry were lowered and online trading apps stepped up. This unprecedented boom in the participation of retail investors – a hot topic of discussion in finance circles for most of this year – ignited the growth of companies like Robinhood and Webull. Although the US has been the focus of this retail investing boom, ‘Generation Investor’ also took an interest in markets in Asia and the U.K. When…