Egyptian’s Paymob raises $3.5m to accelerate expansion across Africa and GCC

Egyptian payment startup Paymob has raised $3.5 million in a round led by Dubai’s Global Ventures and Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank FMO with the participation of existing investor A15.

Founded by Islam Shawky, Alain El Hajj and Mostafa El Menessy, Paymob is a digital payments enabler for emerging markets helping small and large enterprises accept payments online and in-store.

Paymob intends to use the new funds to accelerate growth and expansion across Africa and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), specifically to grow the company’s merchants’ network, product development, to meet the continuously rising demand, product development, and establishing a larger regional footprint.

Paymob claims its mobile wallets infrastructure currently processes more than 85% of the market share of transactions made in Egypt. The company also serves merchants across five different markets including Kenya, Pakistan and Palestine.

In a statement released, the company said “Paymob is continuously investing in its infrastructure to cater for the digitization of the payment ecosystem by empowering thousands of local and global merchants such as Swvl, ElGouna, Tradeline, Befit, Gourmet and Metro market, serving millions of customers on a monthly basis with premium online and instore payment products.”

Islam Shawky, Paymob’s Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer said, “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% increase in merchant on-boarding rate since the beginning of CoVID-19.”

According to Alain El-Hajj, Paymob’s Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, “Paymob’s merchants and partners will benefit directly from this funding round as Paymob will ramp up investments in its core payments offering to better serve our existing base and better 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.”

Basil Moftah, General Partner at Global Ventures, said, “We are 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.”

Jaap Reinking, Director Private Equity at FMO, said, “Paymob is an excellent fit with FMO’s Ventures Program based on its exceptional team, innovative payment solutions, and scalable fintech platform. In Egypt, Paymob contributes to one of the greatest digital transitions on the African continent – taking along underserved consumers and small businesses are at the heart of both Paymob and FMO’s mission.”

Karim Beshara, the chairman of A15 said, “Since our initial investment in Paymob, the team has made significant strides in addressing the major issue of financial inclusion in our region. It is rewarding to be involved in a business that facilitates the way people transact every day and maximizes the productivity of millions of people.”