Lune, a UAE-based financial technology start-up, has raised $850,000 in a pre-seed round that it will use to expand across the Mena region.
The funding for the company, which is registered with the Dubai International Financial Centre, was led by the Dubai Future District Fund, Egypt's Flat6Labs and several angel investors, Lune said on Thursday.
The company's app democratises data to empower users with financial literacy skills and help them to better manage personal debt.
“While the region’s banking and finance institutions are innovating at breakneck speed, the lack of detailed visibility into transactional data presents a formidable barrier to the sector,” said Helal Lootah, co-founder of Lune.
“This lack of visibility prevents consumers from effectively taking control of their spending, and banking, financial services and insurance institutions from introducing or enhancing services based on customer preferences.”
Financial literacy is a priority for the UAE government, which has introduced a number of programmes over the past three years to tackle the rise of personal debt in the country.
A number of institutions have launched initiatives designed to help people to learn smart money skills, including the UAE Central Bank's Esref Sah initiative and the Ghaya financial literacy programme that is run by Abu Dhabi's Authority of Social Contribution, better known as Ma’an.
Luna aims to be a “key enabler” in the continuing transformation of the Mena region's financial ecosystem, co-founder Alexandre Soued said.
“Our success is built on having identified a pressing market gap and addressing it by creating a locally relevant solution,” Mr Soued said.
“The systems and data-processing engines of US and European providers are incompatible with Middle Eastern transactional data, so our offering is truly unique to the region.”
Mr Soued and Mr Lootah founded Lune in 2020, using $200,000 of their own money.
The interactive app allows users to link several bank accounts and credit cards through one platform to track spending, as well as set budgets and saving goals.
Meanwhile, the FinTech industry remained the highest-funded sector across emerging venture markets in the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Turkey during the first half of 2022, with the amount of money raised more than tripling to about $1.68 billion in the first half of 2022 from a year ago, a recent report by start-up platform Magnitt showed.
Lune, which operates in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, will use the cash infusion to scale up its operations across the GCC by the end of 2022.
It is also engaged in discussions with a number of clients in Oman and Qatar.
It is also one of 16 start-ups selected to join Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global technology ecosystem, as part of its latest cohort.
Lune said this would be an opportunity to benefit from a network of corporate and government partners and investors who can help to unlock growth opportunities.
In addition to joining Hub71, Lune was also a part of the third cycle of the Flat6Labs Ignite programme, a partnership launched in June between Disrupt AD, the venture capital arm of Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ, and Flat6Labs.
Their participation has allowed Lune to streamline its business with mentorship from leading entrepreneurship experts.
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Lampedusa: Gateway to Europe
Pietro Bartolo and Lidia Tilotta
Quercus
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Company%20profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to increase your savings
- Have a plan for your savings.
- Decide on your emergency fund target and once that's achieved, assign your savings to another financial goal such as saving for a house or investing for retirement.
- Decide on a financial goal that is important to you and put your savings to work for you.
- It's important to have a purpose for your savings as it helps to keep you motivated to continue while also reducing the temptation to spend your savings.
- Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
Secret Pigeon Service: Operation Colomba, Resistance and the Struggle to Liberate Europe
Gordon Corera, Harper Collins
THE DETAILS
Director: Milan Jhaveri
Producer: Emmay Entertainment and T-Series
Cast: John Abraham, Manoj Bajpayee
Rating: 2/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The 15 players selected
Muzzamil Afridi, Rahman Gul, Rizwan Haider (Dezo Devils); Shahbaz Ahmed, Suneth Sampath (Glory Gladiators); Waqas Gohar, Jamshaid Butt, Shadab Ahamed (Ganga Fighters); Ali Abid, Ayaz Butt, Ghulam Farid, JD Mahesh Kumara (Hiranni Heros); Inam Faried, Mausif Khan, Ashok Kumar (Texas Titans
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
