Marhaba, fintech friends!

From pre-seed to Series B, acquisitions to licensing, MENA fintech is executing across the board.

Local and regional deal flow shows no signs of slowing. This week saw major raises from Huspy ($59 million Series B) and PetroApp ($50 million), a cross-border acquisition by Nawy and continued crypto infrastructure plays across the UAE and Bahrain. Regulatory momentum is also building, with frameworks advancing on stablecoins, fund structuring and capital markets access.

Without further ado, here's what happened this week in fintech!

💸 Fundraises and Exits

🇪🇬 Agricash, Egypt-based fintech, raises a pre-seed funding round led by Alex Angels and joined by other strategic investors at an undisclosed value

🇦🇪 idea-L, a web3-enabled SaaS venture creation platform, secures $1 million in pre-seed funding from angel investors

🇸🇦 PetroApp, Saudi-based fuel management platform (and first independent provider of digital fuel payment), closes a $50 million round of funding led by Jadwa Investment and Bunat Ventures

🇦🇪 Byzanlink, UAE-based real-world asset tokenization platform, raises $1 million in funding from Outlier Ventures, NTDP Saudi, Smart IT Frame, Sensei Capital and angel investors

🇮🇶 InstaBank, Iraq-based digital bank, secures $3 million from EQIQ as part of an ongoing fundraise

🇦🇪🇬🇧 Standard Chartered’s Zodia Custody, a UK-based institution-focused digital assets platform, acquires Tungsten Custody Solutions, UAE-based digital asset custodian solution

🇦🇪 Huspy, UAE-based digital financing proptech startup, raises $59 million in a Series B funding round led by Balderton Capital and joined by Peak XV, ExBorder Partners, Turmeric Capital, BY Ventures, Dara Management and KE Partners

🇸🇦 Tarmeez Capital, Saudi-based fintech, raises funding from Tali Ventures (STC Group) at an undisclosed value

🇪🇬 Nawy, Egypt-based proptech, acquires a majority stake in SmartCrowd, UAE-based property investment and technology platform, for an undisclosed value

💰 Funds

World Liberty Financial, US-based crypto venture, sells $100 million worth of digital tokens UAE-based fund, Aqua 1 Foundation

Sanabil500 MENA Seed Accelerator graduates its 9th cohort of start-ups, including 3 fintechs: Endl (UAE-based stablecoin wallet), Feasible Technologies (UAE-based SME cash advance) and Venre (UK-based wealth creation platform)

BlueFive Capital, closes its oversubscribed founding shareholders circle round, valuing the firm at $120 million

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

Google Pay rolls out services in Oman

NearPay becomes the first Saudi payments start-up to expand into the US market

DeFi Technologies enters the MENA region by opening a UAE office via its subsidiary, Valour

LemFi, a London-based fintech, launches its low-cost, reliable international payment services in Egypt

Amazon Payment Services integrates Tamara, a Saudi BNPL platform, into its payment options

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange begins pricing for what will be the region’s first bond issued using distributed ledger technology

Codebase Technologies partners with Fuze to bring crypto and digital asset functionality to its Digibanc platform

ContactNow and Kashier team up to launch BNPL payment solutions in Egypt

Emirates signs a preliminary agreement with Crypto.com to enable crypto payments through its platform starting next year.

Beyon Money (Bahrain) partners with EazyPay to create a closed-loop merchant payment ecosystem

Paymob partners with Deliverect to offer payment gateway integration for restaurants managing online orders via Deliverect Direct.

🏛 Licensing & Regulations

Egypt’s FRA issues multiple licenses: (1) Bokra to establish real estate and mineral investment funds; (2) Telda to provide IPO services for investment fund certificates; (3) EGY Trend Securities to found companies that issue securities and (4) True Finance Lease to offer factoring services

The Central Bank of Bahrain introduces a new stablecoin regulatory framework, allowing only fully fiat-backed coins pegged to the BHD, USD or other fiat currencies with a 1:1 reserve ratio in high-quality liquid assets

Saudi’s CMA licenses Cadaa Investment Company to provide advisory services in securities

Saudi’s SAMA launches a unified eCommerce payments interface, combining MADA with global networks under a simplified technical standard

SAMA also licenses Awn Alraidah, enabling it to offer consumer microfinance via fintech platforms.

Thank you for tuning in!

If you have feedback on this edition of This Week in Fintech MENA, please reach out on LinkedIn.

Until next week,

Salam ✌🏼