Egyptian digital payments provider Paymob has raised a US$3.5 million funding round to grow its merchant network and accelerate regional expansion.
Founded by Islam Shawky, Alain El Hajj and Mostafa El Menessy, Paymob is an infrastructure technology enabler providing payment solutions to empower digital financial service providers across Africa and the Middle East through mobile wallet technology.
The startup’s mobile wallet infrastructure processes more than 85 per cent of the market share of the transaction’s throughput in the Egyptian market, and serves merchants across five different markets, including Kenya, Pakistan and Palestine, and serving millions of customers on a monthly basis.
Paymob is now set for further expansion after raising US3.5 million in a round led by Global Ventures and the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank FMO with a follow-on investment by A15. The startup will use the proceeds to further expand its merchants’ network to rising demand, as well as product development and the establishment of a larger regional footprint. It plans to extend its products to more markets in Africa and the GCC.
“In a world where consumers are currently adopting digital products in all aspects of their lives, now is the time to invest in Paymob products to empower the digital economy. These unprecedented times has proven the need for a robust digital payments infrastructure to serve the rising demand from all business types and sizes during the pandemic which resulted in a drastic increase of 450 per cent increase in merchant on-boarding rate since the beginning of Covid-19,” said Shawky, Paymob’s chief executive officer (CEO).
Chief operating officer El-Hajj said Paymob’s merchants and partners would benefit directly from the funding as Paymob will ramp up investments in its core payments offering to better serve its existing base and cater for the increasing demand.
“Empowering our merchants and partners networks in Egypt and Africa has and will always be at the heart and core of what we do at Paymob,” he said.
Basil Moftah, general partner at Global Ventures, said his team was “incredibly excited” to partner with the Paymob team, as the need for financial inclusion is exacerbated by the current global pandemic.
“Led by a dynamic team, Paymob has a unique market position to offer integrated infrastructure solutions and payment services across a range of payment methods and channels. Paymob and Global Ventures share similar DNA – the ability to see problems in a different light, the creativity to rethink how things are done, and the courage to get it done,” he said.
