Tagged: mena

February 22, 2023 @ 9:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UAE-based Fintech firm InvestSky has launched a social investing platform with assistance from Alpaca. InvestSky is a social investing platform that “offers a new generation of investors the opportunity to embark on trading stocks in a more inclusive, intuitive, and informed way.” InvestSky was established… Read More

February 22, 2023 @ 1:00 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, announced the launch of Hub71+ Digital Assets, a dedicated Web3 specialist ecosystem, “with more than $2 billion of capital committed to fund Web3 startups and blockchain technologies from the UAE’s capital.” Hub71+ is “a specialist ecosystem dedicated to advancing… Read More

February 17, 2023 @ 9:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech app Purpl – which is a digital wallet and an aggregator of remittance and cash out partners connecting Lebanon to the world, “allowing senders to send money to their loved ones back home at lesser cost and instantly – is going live having sealed… Read More

February 14, 2023 @ 10:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

XS.com, the multinational global Fintech and financial services provider, has announced that it will be the Global Partner of “the first ever Fintech and crypto exhibition of its kind held in the Kingdom of Bahrain.” The Fintech and Crypto Summit is “organized by Smart Vision… Read More

February 14, 2023 @ 9:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

In line with the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court, and Chairman of the Central Bank of the UAE’s (CBUAE) Board of Directors, the CBUAE launched its Financial Infrastructure Transformation Program (FIT program)… Read More

February 14, 2023 @ 9:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

In a “first” for biometric payments in the UAE, Network International, the enabler of digital commerce in the MENA region, and Carrefour, owned and operated by Majid Al Futtaim in the UAE, announced that they have “implemented the Face Pay face verification platform for payments… Read More

February 2, 2023 @ 8:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

MNT-Halan, Egypt’s “fastest growing” fintech ecosystem, announced that Chimera Abu Dhabi has invested more than $200 million in equity in exchange for over 20% of the company. In addition, the company claims it is “in advanced stages with leading international investors to raise $60 million… Read More

February 2, 2023 @ 3:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Mastercard (NYSE: MA), a technology firm focused on the global payments industry, has partnered with Bahrain’s fintech and payment service provider Eazy Financial Services (EazyPay) that will now be powered by Mastercard Payment Gateway Services (MPGS). MPGS is a trusted platform that “provides financial institutions… Read More

January 31, 2023 @ 10:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced the licensing of two finance companies that are “specialized in debt-based crowdfunding, namely: Forus and Tameed.” The licenses were “granted to the companies after successful testing of their solutions in SAMA’s Regulatory Sandbox; an experimental environment dedicated to innovative… Read More

January 30, 2023 @ 11:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Wafeq, a modern and easy-to-use accounting platform, has announced the completion of its $3 million seed round. The Dubai-headquartered company’s seed round was “led Raed Ventures by and saw participation from Wamda Capital, both of which are two of the most prominent names in the… Read More

January 26, 2023 @ 9:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Open Ecosystem RegTech provider, Konsentus, establishes its MENA regional base in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia “to provide open data infrastructure and technology services to regulators and financial services providers in the Kingdom and surrounding territories.” The team is “led by Managing Director MENA, Konsentus,… Read More

January 25, 2023 @ 8:44 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tabby, one of MENA’s shopping and financial services apps, has raised $58 million from Sequoia Capital India, STV, PayPal Ventures, Mubadala Investment Capital, Arbor Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst in a Series C round which values the company at $660 million. The fundraise will be used… Read More

January 22, 2023 @ 10:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Merchant commerce omnichannel platform, Pine Labs announced that it has entered the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market. Pine Labs will partner local banks and financial institutions in the region “to help them serve their merchant partners better.” Banks in the UAE will “benefit from a… Read More

January 19, 2023 @ 7:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Payment solutions provider BPC has extended its collaboration with Bahrain-based International Payment Services B.S.C (IPS), a third party payments processing and payments firm. As part of the agreement, BPC will allow IPS “to extend the use of its open system e-payment platform ‘SmartVista’.” Headquartered in… Read More

January 16, 2023 @ 7:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

Salt Edge, an Open Banking enabler, has expanded into the Kingdom of Jordan. According to a blog post, Salt Edge will be working with Jordanian Banks and other financial services firms to power Open Banking solutions with its API-driven platform. According to the post, the… Read More

January 16, 2023 @ 3:42 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Connecting France and The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a “first of its kind” strategic tech partnership, Foodics, the cloud-based restaurant management technology and payments platform in the MENA region, has announced it has partnered with French-based tech start-up Partoo, who “help brands manage and… Read More

January 12, 2023 @ 9:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

IFIN, which claims to be the first of its kind Islamic Fintech, announces its partnership with Bank Nizwa, Oman’s “first” full-fledged Islamic bank in the Sultanate, offering a plethora of Shariah-compliant products and services, “to introduce instant Islamic ‘Goods Financing’ with the aim of enriching… Read More

January 8, 2023 @ 5:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced the launch of the Open Banking Lab according to the Open Banking Framework issued by SAMA November 2022. The Open Banking Lab aims “to enable innovation and accelerate the development of open banking services in the Kingdom as it… Read More

January 6, 2023 @ 6:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

PayBy, a Fintech firm recently acquired by Astra Tech in August 2022, has been licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE “to conduct Stored Value Facility (SVF) and Retail Payment Services (RPS) operations.” The license “represents one of the country’s highest levels of financial… Read More

January 4, 2023 @ 10:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

In a bid to further strengthen Abu Dhabi’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, Flat6Labs, the MENA region’s seed-stage program and early-stage venture capital firm, and Wio Bank, the region’s first platform bank, have “signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).” Under the agreement, startups from Flat6Labs Ignite, a specialized… Read More