Paymob, an Egyptian digital payments provider, has raised $15 million of new capital from existing investors in a second tranche of its Series A fundraising activity, following a first tranche of $3.5 million raised in July 2020.
It is the largest ever Series A fund raise by an Egyptian company and one of the largest fintech equity rounds in North Africa.
The capital raise was led by Global Ventures, the UAE-based venture capital firm, and its included A15, a leading tech investment fund, FMO, and the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank.
Paymob said in a statement that it will use the proceeds to continue expanding its merchant network, meet the increasing demand, enhance its suite of products further, and fuel its regional expansion efforts.
Paymob provides underserved small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with improved and more accessible digital payments offerings as part of the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) efforts and initiatives towards nationwide digital financial inclusion.
The company will accelerate its expansion in Saudi Arabia and other markets across the region in 2021, according to the statement.
Paymob’s mobile wallets infrastructure processes over 85 percent market share of transactions throughout the Egyptian market and serves merchants across five markets, including Kenya, Pakistan, Jordan, and Palestine.
In payment acceptance, Paymob’s monthly revenue grew over five times in 2020 and its technology is used across economic sectors by over 35,000 local Egyptian and global merchants, such as Swvl, El-Gouna, Tradeline, LG, Samsonite, Aeropostale, Befit, Breadfast, Gourmet, and the American University of Cairo.
“The market opportunity in the region is unprecedented. The large digital payments gap still exists and we are delighted to be working with progressive-thinking regulators to address this. This latest capital raise will accelerate our progress to reducing the digital payments bottleneck. All our existing investors have increased their holdings, and we thank them both for their support and the confidence they have in our business model and track record of execution”, said Paymob’s CEO and Co-founder Islam Shawky.
“We are delighted to lead this momentous FinTech fund raise in the region. Paymob’s market opportunity is huge; Egypt’s transformation to a cashless society is being enabled by the unique products Paymob has built. We look forward to continue supporting their expansion”, said Global Ventures’ General Partner Basil Moftah.
Paymob’s annual Total Payment Volume processed is now over $5 billion.
