Welcome to our daily update for the latest developments and activities of startups in the Arab region. This brief will cover the latest news from the region’s vibrant startup ecosystem.
22 September Startups Activities News
1. Tabby Payments App Launches Tabby Shop.
Tabby Payments and Shopping App in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has announced the launch of the Tabby Shop, marking the most significant app change since its launch. The new application is a one-stop store that displays more than 500,000 products from thousands of brands in the categories of fashion, beauty, household appliances, and electronics, and Tabby Shop features many tools to facilitate shopping and smart search operations such as a favorites list, special offer alerts, and other features, as the application supports the ability to search the store through automatic suggestions that recognize the user’s taste over time to customize an exceptional shopping experience. Users will also be able to save their favorite products in groups to share with friends and family and will have access to our Live Chat support team around the clock, seven days a week, for orders, payments, and returns. As the company stated in its statement, with over 5 million active customers choosing Tabby as their preferred way to shop, the store will be a powerful new channel for retailers and showcase brands and products through the large base of discerning shoppers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
2. MyFatoorah E-Payment Platform Obtains Licences From 6 Central Banks in Arab Countries.
MyFatoorah, a digital payment platform in the Middle East, recently obtained licenses from 6 central banks in 6 regional countries. Through these licenses, MyFatoorah will introduce its customers to the innovative “Unlimited Payments” concept to facilitate the acceptance of cross-border payments in a simplified manner, reinforce the startup’s steps in establishing the concepts of trust, security, and ease while completing transactions in the field of digital payments without the need for a banking intermediary. Licensed by central banks in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar, and with approval from the Central Bank of Egypt, MyFatoorah can now offer payment acceptance services and digital payment solutions while reducing reliance on traditional banking channels. Based on the “Unlimited Payments” concept, the startup allows regional and international merchants to seamlessly accept several local payment methods, including Mada, Knet, Benefit, Naps, Fawry, Meeza, OmanNet, and other payment methods through a unified dashboard. This strategic shift will give the company more autonomy to enhance operational efficiency and provide exceptional services to merchants.
3. Xpence Financial Platform Signs a Partnership With FinTech Company Neoleap to Provide Innovative Payment Solutions in Saudi Arabia.
Xpence SME financial solutions platform in the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENASA) region has announced a new strategic partnership with fintech company Neoleap to deliver innovative solutions and services in Saudi Arabia. Under this partnership, Xpence will be able to offer its services in the Saudi market to enable SMEs and businesses to use Xpence’s expense management platform through Xpence Visa payment cards. The Saudi market is the third region in which Xpence will provide services in addition to those offered in Bahrain and the UAE as part of a plan to expand into neighboring regions.
4. Yalla Signs New Agreements to Start its Services and Launch the App in the Saudi Market This Year.
During its participation in the Saudi Seamless Conference and Exhibition, which was held recently in Riyadh, the Egyptian fintech company Yalla signed several agreements with major companies and financial institutions in Saudi Arabia, including a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Alinma Bank, Digital Pay and many other electronic payment and collection service providers, as part of its strategy to launch the Yalla platform and the Yalla Super App application in Saudi Arabia this year, to provide a unique and unprecedented experience for customers in the Saudi market through a range of innovative services that cover many daily needs, especially the Yalla card, which can be used in e-commerce operations and in-store payments. The platform will provide many various electronic payment solutions and services, including financial services, bill payment, e-shopping, as well as YallaBusiness solutions for institutions and merchants, which include enabling them to collect payments and sell products electronically, in addition to providing many electronic solutions to pay the salaries of employees in various institutions and authorities using Yalla cards. It is worth noting that the number of users of the Yalla SuperApp application in Egypt is about 2 million, with a total number of transactions reaching more than 7 million transactions worth 7 billion Egyptian pounds.
5. Hyperpay Enters Three Strategic Partnerships With Bank AlJazira, Azm, and Paymentology to Strengthen Its Presence in the Saudi Market.
On the sidelines of its participation in Seamless Saudi Arabia 2023, Hyperpay, the fastest-growing electronic payment gateway in the Middle East and North Africa, signed three strategic partnerships with Bank AlJazira, Azm, and Paymentology in a qualitative step in its efforts to strengthen its presence in the Saudi market, reflecting the company’s strong commitment to redefining financial services. Under these partnerships, Hyperpay will employ various cutting-edge fintech solutions to provide innovative payment channels that pave the way for transforming the financial services ecosystem in Saudi Arabia, all of which aim to help companies improve the customer experience by making payments more accessible and more secure.
6. Foodics Restaurant Management Solutions in Egypt Reviews Its Future Strategy on the Occasion of Its Third Anniversary.
Foodics Restaurant Management Solutions in Egypt and the Middle East reviewed the latest developments regarding the company’s future business strategy, the volume of its business and the services it provides to its customers in Egypt on the occasion of the 3 years since its entry into the Egyptian market. This comes within the framework of Fooddics’ vision, which is based on providing the best solutions, intelligent technologies, and electronic applications through a comprehensive system for managing and operating restaurants in the Egyptian market, in line with global trends and advanced technology, which contributes to the digitization and advancement of the food and restaurant sector and is in line with the state’s plan to achieve digital transformation and Egypt’s Vision 2030. Foodics has conducted several funding rounds with a total investment value of $198 million, with the startup recently receiving a $170 million C-funding round to bolster its regional and global expansion efforts, including its M&A strategy, strengthening its presence in new markets. This puts Foodics at the forefront of the region’s emerging companies that offer its system through the cloud.
7. Three Egyptian Companies Qualify for International Final Within the Orange Social Venture 2023 Startup Competition.
Orange Egypt announced that 3 Egyptian startups won the first three places in the local round of the Orange Social Venture Competition 2023 so that the winning companies will win incentive prizes and qualify for the final international qualifiers to be held in South Africa, which includes 51 startups from 17 countries to compete for 3 prizes worth 50,000 euros provided by Orange Group. The local edition of Orange Social Venture kicked off in March, and dozens of companies competed before the top five projects qualified: Egrobots, which works in artificial intelligence in the agricultural sector based on providing solutions and applications in agrarian data analysis. The second company is Flowrista, an integrated e-commerce solution that offers newly picked imported flowers arranged by a professional team of florists and designers. The third company is Ultrateb, the first funded electronic trading platform for medical supplies. The fourth company, Drop Me, develops solid waste management solutions by integrating AI technology and embedded devices to provide a sustainable product market and lifestyle for teens, youth, and adults. Finally, Payllion, which works in electricity and water distribution management, uses data platforms and artificial intelligence to improve revenue collection and identify and resist resource theft and technical waste on the network. At the end of the event, the finalists presented their presentations, and the jury, consisting of a group of experts and specialists in the fields of technology and entrepreneurship, selected 3 projects: Ultrateb came in first place, Egrobots in second place, and Drop Me in third place.
That’s all for today’s funding update. Stay tuned for more updates on the MENA startup scene, and remember to subscribe to our newsletter or browse our archives for more news and analysis.
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