Payments and API banking solutions company Cashfree Payments this week announced an equity investment of $15 million in Telr, a Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates-based payment service provider. With this investment, Cashfree becomes one of the largest shareholders in the company.
Cashfree said this investment in Telr, will allow it to launch in the MENA region via Telr’s strong presence and payment infrastructure. Cashfree and Telr also aim to develop a unified cross-border payments platform that would help Indian merchants accept payments from customers in the MENA region and vice-versa, via a single integration.
Telr’s platform facilitates payments in more than 120 currencies and 30 languages. Through a single integration, Telr grants access to every payment method it offers, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay, Apple Pay, PayPal, SADAD, Mada and STCPay. Also on the product menu is an e-commerce offering which covers a wide range of financial and business services including social commerce; QR Codes; digital invoicing; Telr Buy Now Pay Later in collaboration with Tabby; Telr Finance in collaboration with LNNDO; a merchant financing program; and Telr Shops, a tool for creating an online store in minutes.
Cashfree said the MENA region offers a large, attractive, and growing online market, with payments representing the highly developed sub-sector within the region’s fintech space. The MENA region is also witnessing a continuous transition towards cashless transactions, with traditional brick-and- mortar businesses moving towards expanding online offerings. The e-commerce businesses are also witnessing a drastic shift from high street to online shopping, a trend expected to grow even more.
“We are elated with the strategic investment in Telr, which aligns well with our aspiration to be the leader in the rapidly evolving digital payments space in the MENA region and overall global expansion goals,” Cashfree co-founder and CEO Akash Sinha said. “Telr’s trusted presence and significant operations in the MENA region provides us an exciting opportunity. We are grateful to our key institutional investor APIs for helping us source and execute this strategic investment. We look forward to nurturing our partnership with Telr by leveraging our learnings and experience from the Indian market and enhancing our reach in the MENA region by introducing novel offerings.”
“We are excited about this new investment into Telr,” its founder and CEO Khalil Alami added. “Joining forces with Cashfree Payments will further enable us to continue on our innovation and growth journey. Our offerings and partnerships aim to assist in reaching an integrated e-commerce ecosystem supporting the UAE in its transition into a cashless economy; and contributing to the KSA vision 2030. In short, this combined effort will translate into greater benefits for our customers and the markets we operate in.”
