👋 Welcome to the new readers who’ve joined us since last week. You’re joining 176,000+ other subscribers who love fintech.
Salam, fintech friends!
Amazon never really wanted to do payments company in this region. Amazon Payment Services traces back to PayFort, absorbed into Amazon's stack when it bought Souq.com in 2017. It was infrastructure that came with the deal, rather than infrastructure Amazon set out to build.
Nearly a decade later, the company is reportedly letting it go, with Saudi's PayTabs agreeing to acquire the MENA operations for more than $100 million. The unit serves over 3,500 merchants across nine countries. Folded into PayTabs, the combined business is expected to process north of $40 billion annually, making PayTabs the region's largest dedicated payments infrastructure provider.
Consolidation kept going elsewhere too. Saudi's Salla acquired Paylink, folding payment capabilities directly into its e-commerce enablement solution. Cash Plus agreed to take a controlling stake in Tripass, a Moroccan taxi-hailing platform, ahead of the 2030 World Cup. It’s an unusual pairing on paper, but one that fits a broader pattern of fintechs buying their way into adjacent transaction volume.
On the funding side, Saudi's NAYLA raised $18 million and Zeal, out of Egypt, secured $10 million, and on the regulatory front, Dubai's VARA signed an MoU with Securitize to build out a framework for tokenized markets.
Plenty to go through. Let’s start.
- Maria
The Rundown
💸 Fundraises & Exits
Zeal, Egypt-based fintech, secured $10 million in funding
UAE-based Sav raised $3.5 million in pre-series A funding led by Phoenix Venture Partners
PayTabs Group reportedly plans to acquire Amazon Payment Services’ MENA operation for more than $100 million
Paylink gets acquired by Saudi eCommerce enablement platform, Salla
Cash Plus agrees to acquire a controlling stake in Tripass
NAYLA, Saudi-based financing platform, raised $18 million in funding from Sanabil Studio, Idrisi Ventures and BLOMINVEST
Rabeh, a Saudi-based investment platform, raised $8.5 million from angel investors
Abwab AI closed a $4 million funding round led by SpeedInvest
Oro, a Dubai-based financial AI platform, secured $3 million in a strategic funding round co-led by MH Ventures and Mapleblock Capital.
🚀 Partnerships and Product Launches
Mamo launched the Mamo MCP server, allowing its customers to connect their accounts to AI assistants including Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini
Fortis Digital Solutions partnered with Paymob to install its SmartPOS software onto Paymob’s payment terminals
Qatar’s Central Bank partnered with Samsung to bring Himyan, the country’s national payment scheme, into Samsung Wallet.
🏛️ Policy & Regulation
Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and Securitize Corp. signed an MoU establishing a framework for collaboration to support tokenization and digital asset infrastructure across Dubai
Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority approved 4 companies for non-banking financial services, including Ashal Holding for microfinance services, MNZL for consumer and real estate financing, Menthum for processing investment fund subscriptions and Azimut Egypt for serving private equity and centure capital funds through digital platforms
Nymcard received in-principle approval for a Stored Value Facility license from the UAE’s Central Bank
XTransfer, China-based B2B cross-border payments platform, received in-principle approval for a retail payment services license from the UAE’s Central Bank
Saudi’s Capital Market Authority licensed Aajil Capital to manage investments in the securities business.
🗂️ Other News
South Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments opened its doors in Dubai after securing a Prudential Category 3C Regulatory License from the Dubai Financial Services Authority
Dubai’s Land Department works towards a zero-interest Rent Now, Pay Later scheme
Egypt’s Valu launched in Jordan
Standard Chartered introduced institutional Bitcoin and Ether spot trading in the UAE
Hala and Impact46 extended their SME Financing Fund by $40 million
Morocco’s PayTic expanded to Saudi Arabia
American Express Middle East agreed to acquire the Saudi Investment Bank’s 50% stake in American Express Saudi Arabia
First Abu Dhabi Bank completed a live USD transaction with Citi using tokenized deposits on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger
Nigeria’s DigiTax expanded to the UAE, after receiving its accreditation as an e-invoicing service provider from the UAE Ministry of Finance
Tribe, a UAE-based real estate tokenization start-up, expanded to Qatar
Oman’s Sohar International partnered with Terminal 11 to launch the Sohar Innovation Hub: a platform supporting fintech start-ups commercialize their products.
Fun Stuff
🤓 Trivia of the week
What's the largest tech acquisition in MENA history?
(Answer at the bottom of the issue.)
Editor’s Picks
That’s the last 2 weeks of fintech news from around the Middle East and North Africa for you.
Until next time, salam ✌🏼
1 Trivia Answer: Uber's $3.1 billion purchase of Careem, announced in 2019 — over 30 times larger than this week's PayTabs-Amazon deal, and still the region's benchmark nearly seven years later.
