UAE-based FinTech Pyypl raised $11 million in an early-stage funding round it will use to continue its growth in its core GCC markets and expand further in Africa. Pyypl, which is licensed by the Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority, offers digital payment solutions for the one billion smartphone users in the Middle East and Africa who are financially underserved. A diverse group of international family offices and high-net-worth individuals from Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East participated in the company’s latest funding round. Pyypl’s latest funding round follows investment from UAE-based venture capital firm Global Ventures. The region’s FinTech sector continues to gain traction as the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted more consumers to adopt digital payments, presenting an opportunity for start-ups to provide services to cater to growing demand. Consumers have been quick to adapt FinTech services such as digital payments, remittances, insurance, and lending.
In the Middle East, one out of every four investment deals last year was in FinTech, which accounted for roughly a third of all the funding raised – $2.1 billion through 220 deals. With a high adoption rate of smartphones, the Middle East and Africa region is ripe for FinTech sector growth, Pyypl said, adding that most people are still without access to essential financial services. With connections to numerous global financial institutions facilitating cross-border money transfers, Pyypl started with on-demand liquidity services in the Philippines. Pyypl plans to expand the availability of essential financial services, including remittance products, to more markets in the Middle East and Africa. The Middle East contains two of the world’s three largest remittance corridors, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia handling a combined $78bn in payments in 2020.