Tagged: middle east

April 18, 2024 @ 6:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tether, which claims to be among the largest companies in the digital assets industry, and Fuze, a digital assets infrastructure provider with offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Istanbul, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in order “to establish the terms of a collaboration… Read More

April 17, 2024 @ 6:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tuum, a core banking provider, announces its strategic expansion into the Middle East market and the creation of a regional headquarters at ADGM in Abu Dhabi. The move to expand into the Middle East “follows Tuum’s recent Series B funding round led by CommerzVentures, with… Read More

April 7, 2024 @ 8:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced that the share of retail consumer electronic payments -one of the Financial Sector Development Program’s KPIs- reached 70% of total retail payments in 2023, up from 62% in 2022. This achievement is attributed “to the significant growth of payments… Read More

April 2, 2024 @ 10:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital asset exchange Fasset’s app is now officially available to users in the UAE. The app offers access to broker-dealer services for “both early investors and experienced real-world asset investors seeking to diversify their investment portfolio with digital assets.” Fasset’s platform allows secure and seamless… Read More

March 30, 2024 @ 10:32 pm By Michael Wong  |  

QNB Group, the leading financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, has announced the launch of “FAWRAN,” a revolutionary payment method designed to enhance the payment experience for its customers in Qatar. This innovative service allows for quick and secure transactions using just the… Read More

March 26, 2024 @ 10:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Ahlan App, the Bahraini loyalty programme, reports that it has successfully raised $3 million at a valuation of $15 million in its first investment round, which has been fully subscribed to and led by Hope Ventures. The investment round was said to be “joined by… Read More

March 24, 2024 @ 7:50 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Coupa, the AI-driven platform that helps you operate smarter and grow faster, today announced the launch of its first data center in the Middle East, to be inaugurated in collaboration with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) team in Dubai. The new data center highlights Coupa’s… Read More

March 15, 2024 @ 3:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

International insurtech bolttech recently announced its expansion into the Middle East with the launch of its partnership with stc Group, the telecommunications company acting as the engine of digital transformation in the region. bolttech’s collaboration with stc Group will “provide stc’s customers with innovative, embedded… Read More

March 12, 2024 @ 10:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Jada Fund of Fun​ds has announced its first investment in Venture Debt and second in the private credit space in Partners for Growth VII, managed by global private credit manager Partners for Growth, “with SAR 3.75 billion (USD 1 billion) in assets under management, to… Read More

March 6, 2024 @ 5:21 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Salla, which claims to be among the leading SaaS e-commerce enablers in Saudi Arabia, has raised $130 million in a Pre-IPO funding round which has been “co-led by Investcorp and Sanabil, and with the participation of STV as the largest investor.” This new investment is… Read More

March 1, 2024 @ 8:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is set to launch Qatar’s “first” venture capital (VC) Fund of Funds, a strategic investment program to foster innovation in Qatar. The Fund of Funds program will “invest more than USD 1 billion in international and regional venture capital funds.” The… Read More

February 29, 2024 @ 9:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Eazy Financial Services (EazyPay), a Bahraini financial institute specialized in Point-of-Sale (POS) and online payment gateway acquiring services, has joined forces with Visa (NYSE: V), a global leader in digital payments, in order “to enable Visa Direct, a cutting-edge funds transfer solution for EazyPay’s customer… Read More

January 24, 2024 @ 6:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

DIFC Innovation Hub, which claims to be the largest start-up and innovation hub in the world operating out of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the global financial centre in the MEASA) region, is collaborating with global Swiss wealth management firm, Julius Baer, and the Financial… Read More

January 23, 2024 @ 4:28 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Mashreq, which claims to be one of the leading financial institutions in the MENA region, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UAE-based fintech firm, Fils, in order to “develop a corporate carbon offsetting offering that helps corporate and institutional clients to integrate… Read More

January 9, 2024 @ 11:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Paymob, the financial services enabler in the MENA and Pakistan region, has announced its partnership with Tamara, the shopping and payments platform in the GCC region. The strategic partnership integrates Tamara’s Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service with Paymob’s secure gateway in order “to power… Read More

January 8, 2024 @ 7:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Maalexi, the UAE-based dynamic risk management platform for SME agri-businesses, announces its completion of a $3 million pre-Series A fund raise. The investment round was reportedly “led exclusively by Global Ventures – MENA’s venture capital firm – which joins existing venture capital investors Rockstart (Amsterdam)… Read More

January 8, 2024 @ 8:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Global Fintech Airwallex has reportedly announced the appointment of Nadav Tamam in order to spearhead its enterprise business focused on Israel and the Middle East region. As reported by news outlets focused on Israel, Tamam has prior experience working at firms like Google as well… Read More

January 4, 2024 @ 11:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Dubai Duty Free, which claims to be one of the largest travel retail operators, announced its partnership with Alipay+ in order “to power a seamless travel and checkout experience for international visitors.” Consumers from South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia, Italy as well as… Read More

January 1, 2024 @ 9:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Hakbah – the KSA-based fintech savings platform – announces a new partnership with Tarabut – MENA’s open banking platform, and an investor in the region’s digital transformation. The partnership has several benefits for Hakbah as it “simplifies and expedites various tasks.” It will enable streamlined… Read More

January 1, 2024 @ 8:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) seeks public consultation on draft amendments to the “Key Principles of Governance in Financial Institutions under the control and supervision of the Saudi Central Bank.” In this context, SAMA invites stakeholders to “provide suggestions and observations on the draft by… Read More