Egypt-based fintech Paymob has raised a $22 million Series B extension round funding.
Along with participation from Endeavor Catalyst and current investors PayPal Ventures, BII, FMO, A15, Nclude, and Helios Digital Ventures, the funding was spearheaded by EBRD Venture Capital.
Paymob, which was founded in 2015 by Islam Shawky, Alain El Hajj, and Mostafa El Menessy, offers digital payment solutions to both online and offline retailers.
With the extended round, Paymob will be able to continue pursuing its MENA expansion plan.
The largest financial services enabler in MENA, Paymob, has announced a $22 million Series B extension round, bringing the total amount of Series B capital raised by the firm to $72 million.
Leading the fundraising was EBRD Venture Capital, with Endeavor Catalyst contributing as well. Participating in the round were longtime investors PayPal Ventures, BII, FMO, A15, Nclude, and Helios Digital Ventures, all of whom reaffirmed their support for Paymob’s business plan, approach, and position as a leader in the local fintech industry.
In order to maintain its position as the top payments provider in the area, the company is still committed to growing its market share in Egypt and scaling up operations in recently penetrated areas. Having been established in 2015, Paymob was the first fintech business to be granted a Payments Facilitator license by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) in 2018. The business debuted in the United Arab Emirates in 2022, and in May 2023 it obtained Saudi Payments PTSP certification. Paymob became the first foreign fintech startup to obtain a PSP license in Oman in December 2023.
Paymob’s first $50 million Series B investment in 2022, led by Kora Capital, PayPal Ventures, and Clay Point, provided the impetus for the GCC expansion. With the investment, Paymob was able to serve about 350,000 merchants in MENA and launch its app in 2023. Its merchant base grew by 3.5 times. Paymob is the most complete solution available on the market since it has expanded its acceptance suite to include 50 payment ways that are offered via its gateway, POS terminals, and Paymob app. In keeping with its pledge to encourage regional SME growth, Paymob recently introduced embedded checkout experiences on e-commerce platforms Woo Commerce and Shopify.
Islam Shawky Paymob’s co-founder and CEO said “We are very excited by our strong prospects in Egypt, where we hold a market-leading position,” “We have experienced significant traction in the UAE since launching our operations there.” As we accelerate our GCC roll-out, this funding will enable Paymob to fully leverage the enthusiasm in our established countries. We are pleased of our ongoing influence and are dedicated to building state-of-the-art infrastructure that will help SMEs around the region prosper in the digital economy.”
Bruno Lusic of EBRD Venture Capital said “We are extremely excited to support Paymob as it embarks on the next chapter in its journey to create a market-leading, omni-channel, multi-jurisdiction payment solutions provider in the MENA region,” . The transformation of economies to non-cash payment systems is creating a very dynamic and rapidly growing payments scene in Egypt and the wider MENA region. We firmly believe that Paymob, with its cutting-edge technology and capable management group, is in a unique position to profit from that trend.”
About Paymob
According to Allen Taylor, Managing Partner of Endeavor Catalyst, “We at Endeavor have seen a growing amount of international attention towards fintech in the Middle East.” Continuing this momentum, we are excited to assist business owners Islam Shawky, Alain El Hajj, and Mostafa Menessy in this next phase of Paymob’s regional expansion, helping them to realize their vision of helping companies prosper in the digital economy. We have been committed to assisting their progress ever since they were chosen as Endeavor Entrepreneurs in 2022, and we can’t wait to watch their journey continue.
