Yango Group, the global technology operator with operations spanning ride-hailing, logistics, and digital services across emerging markets, has completed its first investment in the Middle East and North Africa region. Through its corporate venture arm, Yango Ventures, the company has backed Comfi AI, a Dubai-headquartered fintech startup, as part of the company’s Pre-Series A funding round.
The deal marks a significant milestone for Yango Ventures, which launched in 2025 with a fund capped at $20 million. While the fund has previously backed early-stage companies in Africa and South Asia — including Kenyan SME lender Zanifu, Pakistani freight-financing platform Trukkr, and African transport marketplace BuuPass — the investment in Comfi AI is its first foray into MENA, signalling a deliberate expansion of its geographic mandate.
Closing the SME Finance Gap Through Embedded Technology
Comfi AI builds embedded finance infrastructure specifically designed for small and medium-sized enterprises. Its product suite includes Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) for businesses, invoice discounting, and dealer financing — all integrated directly into supplier workflows such as invoicing systems and partner platforms. The model removes the friction of traditional lending by placing financing at the point of transaction rather than requiring businesses to engage separately with financial institutions.
The practical impact is substantial. By embedding financing into existing transaction flows, Comfi AI compresses payment cycles that would traditionally take months down to a single business day — a shift that directly addresses the chronic working-capital constraints faced by SMEs across the MENA region.
Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Dubai, the company has grown rapidly since inception. It currently serves more than 1,000 SMEs across the region, has processed upwards of 15,000 invoices, and counts more than 4,000 finance professionals among its active user bases.
Why Yango Ventures Made the Move
Daniil Shuleyko, CEO of Yango Group, outlined the strategic rationale clearly:
“Our strategy is to build and support infrastructure that enables business growth across markets. We do this through our own products and by investing in companies that solve fundamental problems. Comfi AI is one of them: it integrates financing into transaction flows and reduces payment cycles from months to a single day, improving access to working capital. We believe such solutions can scale across a wide range of economies.”
The investment is consistent with Yango Ventures’ broader thesis: backing early-stage companies that are building foundational infrastructure in fintech, logistics, and SME services across emerging markets. Comfi AI’s model — embedding finance within business operations rather than offering standalone lending — aligns closely with where the global fintech landscape is heading.
Dubai’s standing as a global hub for embedded finance innovation further cements the strategic logic. With a regulatory environment shaped by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and strong institutional appetite for fintech experimentation, the UAE continues to attract infrastructure-level startups building solutions for markets well beyond its borders.
A Broader Signal for MENA Fintech
The investment carries implications beyond the two companies directly involved. For the MENA fintech ecosystem, Yango Ventures’ entry into the region — through an embedded finance play rather than consumer fintech or payments — reinforces a broader shift in investor appetite toward B2B financial infrastructure.
SME financing remains severely underserved across the MENA region. Traditional banks have historically been reluctant to lend to small businesses without significant collateral, leaving a financing gap estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Startups like Comfi AI, which bypass the traditional credit assessment model in favour of transaction-embedded financing, represent a structurally different approach to that problem — one that investors with an infrastructure lens are increasingly drawn to.
For Yango Group, backing Comfi AI also extends its presence into a segment that complements its existing logistics and mobility businesses. As supply chains and SME commerce grow increasingly digital, the intersection of embedded finance and operational workflows becomes a natural adjacency.
Comfi AI is a Dubai-based embedded finance company founded in 2023. The company develops financial tools — including BNPL for businesses, invoice discounting, and dealer financing — that are integrated directly into the workflows of small and medium-sized enterprises across the MENA region. Rather than requiring businesses to engage with standalone lending platforms, Comfi AI places financing at the point of transaction, enabling SMEs to access working capital within their existing operational processes. The company serves over 1,000 SMEs, has processed more than 15,000 invoices, and supports more than 4,000 finance professionals across the region.
Yango Group is a global technology company that adapts advanced technology to serve local communities across emerging markets. Operating in sectors including ride-hailing, logistics, food delivery, and e-commerce, Yango has built a presence across Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and beyond. In 2025, the company launched Yango Ventures, a corporate venture fund with a capital base not exceeding $20 million, focused on backing early-stage startups building digital infrastructure in fintech, logistics, and SME services. Its portfolio spans MENA, Africa, Latin America, and South Asia, with a consistent focus on companies solving foundational economic problems in high-growth emerging markets.
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