Egypt's Paymob, a digital payments service provider, is expanding to the UAE, the company said on Wednesday.
The Emirates will be the company's second international market after entering Pakistan in April.
“The UAE is a dynamic ecosystem that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation, largely enabled by tremendous support from the public sector," said Islam Shawky, Paymob's chief executive and co-founder.
There are currently more than 400,000 businesses in the UAE, 61 per cent of which are microbusinesses and 38 per cent small and medium enterprises, according to Mr Shawky.
"We see a massive opportunity to serve this market segment and our goal over the next three years is to empower 15 per cent of those merchants with the latest payment technologies to fuel their growth and further digitise the economy,” he said.
FinTech was the highest funded sector in emerging venture markets in the first half of 2022, more than tripling to almost $1.68 billion compared with the same period a year ago, a report from Magnitt showed in August.
Investments in FinTech start-ups in the Mena region in the first half of 2022 reached $819 million, led by the UAE.
Paymob has raised a total of $68.5 million, including a $50m Series B round in May.
Its main investors include Kora Capital, PayPal Ventures, Clay Point, Helios Digital Ventures, British International Investment, Global Ventures, A15, FMO and Nclude.
The Cairo-based FinTech aims to become the key player in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, Omar El Gammal, Paymob's vice president of global business development, told The National in April.
Founded in 2015 by Mr Shawky, chief operating officer Alain El Hajj and chief technology officer Mostafa Menessy, Paymob allows online and offline merchants to accept electronic payments from their customers using various products and solutions.
The company's products include bank cards, mobile wallets, QR payments, card instalments, consumer finance and buy-now-pay-later offerings.
A year ago, Paymob teamed up with Mastercard to launch tap-on-phone contactless payments in Egypt. The company said it plans to roll out this service in the UAE in 2023.
In September, Paymob signed a deal with Dubai-based BNPL platform Tabby, allowing businesses in Egypt to process Tabby's interest-free flexible payments solution through Paymob's gateway.
Paymob appointed Omar Al Haddad as general manager for the GCC, based in the UAE. He will grow and lead a team of more than 150 employees and support Emiratisation initiatives, the company said.
Mr Al Haddad has held several senior positions in the financial services industry, including most recently as Mastercard's head of government business development in the UAE and Oman.
He is also a founder and partner of several food and wellness outlets, such as 1762, Appetite UAE, The Climbing Goat Roastery and Live Well UAE.
Paymob has more than 150,000 merchants and has plans to reach a million SMEs in the next couple of years. It has 16.5 million registered users on its app.
In Egypt, the company has 87 per cent mobile wallet market share in total processed value.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
Dubai World Cup nominations
UAE: Thunder Snow/Saeed bin Suroor (trainer), North America/Satish Seemar, Drafted/Doug Watson, New Trails/Ahmad bin Harmash, Capezzano, Gronkowski, Axelrod, all trained by Salem bin Ghadayer
USA: Seeking The Soul/Dallas Stewart, Imperial Hunt/Luis Carvajal Jr, Audible/Todd Pletcher, Roy H/Peter Miller, Yoshida/William Mott, Promises Fulfilled/Dale Romans, Gunnevera/Antonio Sano, XY Jet/Jorge Navarro, Pavel/Doug O’Neill, Switzerland/Steve Asmussen.
Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.
Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
MATCH INFO
Crawley Town 3 (Tsaroulla 50', Nadesan 53', Tunnicliffe 70')
Leeds United 0
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Abu Dhabi GP starting grid
1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
4 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
5 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
7 Romain Grosjean (Haas)
8 Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
9 Esteban Ocon (Force India)
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
11 Carlos Sainz (Renault)
12 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
13 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
14 Sergio Perez (Force India)
15 Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
16 Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
17 Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
18 Stoffe Vandoorne (McLaren)
19 Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)
20 Lance Stroll (Williams)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Five%20calorie-packed%20Ramadan%20drinks
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
Federer's 19 grand slam titles
Australian Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Marat Safin; 2006 bt Marcos Baghdatis; 2007 bt Fernando Gonzalez; 2010 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Rafael Nadal
French Open (1 title) - 2009 bt Robin Soderling
Wimbledon (8 titles) - 2003 bt Mark Philippoussis; 2004 bt Andy Roddick; 2005 bt Andy Roddick; 2006 bt Rafael Nadal; 2007 bt Rafael Nadal; 2009 bt Andy Roddick; 2012 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Marin Cilic
US Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Lleyton Hewitt; 2005 bt Andre Agassi; 2006 bt Andy Roddick; 2007 bt Novak Djokovic; 2008 bt Andy Murray
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
MATCH INFO
Qalandars 109-3 (10ovs)
Salt 30, Malan 24, Trego 23, Jayasuriya 2-14
Bangla Tigers (9.4ovs)
Fletcher 52, Rossouw 31
Bangla Tigers win by six wickets
The%20Last%20White%20Man
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
