Archive
liwwa Secures US$18.5M to Grow Its P2P Lending Platform and Expand in Egypt
Amman-based lending fintech liwwa has secured US$18.5 million in its Pre-Series B fundraising round. The company lends to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan and Egypt, and also operates peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform liwwa.com. Founded in 2015, liwwa has
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Digital Banking Adoption Soars in the UAE
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), rapid digital adoption brought about the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the continued interest in digital banking solutions, prompting mass adoption of neobanking services as a way to access funds, make transactions and manage personal
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UAE-Based Payments Startup Ziina to Expand Digital Wallet Offering to Jordan
UAE-based payments start-up Ziina has announced plans to expand to Jordan. The company previously launched their digital wallet in February 2022 and their payment keyboard earlier this month. The Y-Combinator-backed company previously raised USD 9 million during a seed round in mid-2021
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Emirates Development Bank Now Offers up to AED 5 Million in Loans on Its App
Emirates Development Bank (EDB) announced a new lending feature offered in partnership with peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform Beehive that allows SMEs to apply for loans of up to AED5 million (US$1.36 million) directly through its digital banking app and receive approval
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Wix’s UK-Based Merchants Can Now Accept Payments With Vyne
Account-to-account payments platform Vyne entered a new partnership with web development platform Wix that gives Wix’s UK-based merchants access to Vyne’s open banking payments infrastructure, enabling them to offer their customers the ability to pay directly from their mobile banking
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8 Rising Fintech Startups in Israel
Israel is home to a dynamic fintech ecosystem with global reach and traction. In 2021, Israeli-founded fintech startups raised a record of US$4.5 billion, surpassing the three previous years combined, a report by Viola Group, a leading tech-focused investment firm
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Ooredoo and iPay by Vodafone Awarded Qatar’s First Digital Payment Licenses
Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has issued the country’s first digital payment licenses to Ooredoo Money and iPay by Vodafone Qatar. The announcement was made in a tweet on 30 August 2022 that said that the issuance was made “to contribute
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Saudi Central Bank Updates Its Regulatory Sandbox Framework to Drive Innovation
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced that it has updated its Regulatory Sandbox framework as part of its efforts to achieve national strategic goals in the Financial Sector Development Programme (FSDP), a key objective of the Saudi Vision 2030. The
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AWS Launches New Cloud Region in the United Arab Emirates
Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the launch of its AWS Middle East (UAE) Region, the second of its kind following that of Bahrain in 2019. Developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and nonprofit organisations now have
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