Paymob, an Egyptian fintech startup, has raised $18.5 million in a series A round led by Global Ventures. The round includes $15 million in fresh capital and $3.5 million that came as its first tranche in July 2020.
A15 and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, also participated in the deal. It is the largest-ever Series A raised by a fintech in Egypt.
In a statement, it said that the revenue for its payment acceptance business grew over 5x in 2020, with its technology now being used by over 35,000 local and global merchants including Swvl, LG, Samsonite, and the American University in Cairo. The startup claims to have processed payments worth over $5 billion to date.
With the new funding, the company aims to accelerate its expansion to Saudi and other regional markets this year. It will also use the funds to expand its merchant network and further enhance the suite of products.
Islam Shawky, the co-founder and CEO of Paymob, said, “We couldn’t be more excited for Paymob’s next phase of growth; 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,” he added.
Basil Moftah, General Partner of Global Ventures, said, “We are delighted to lead this momentous fintech fundraise in the region. Paymob has a perfect combination of high-quality technology, a product customers increasingly cannot do without, and an outstanding management team. Their market opportunity is also huge; Egypt’s transformation to a cashless society is being enabled by the unique products Paymob has built. We look forward to continuing supporting their expansion.”
