UAE-based open banking platform Tarabut Gateway has raised $12 million in a pre-Series A round led by Tiger Global, alongside new investor Dubai International Fintech Fund, the investment vehicle of Dubai’s International Financial Centre (DIFC). This latest investment adds to fintech’s $13 million Seed round raised in February this year.

Founded in Bahrain in 2019 by Abdulla Almoayed, Tarabut Gateway connects a regional network of banks and fintechs via a universal application programming interface (API).

It was the first startup to graduate from Bahrain Central Bank’s regulatory sandbox and now has offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London and Manama.

The investment will be used to grow the Tarabut Gateway’s tech and leadership teams.

Press release:

Tarabut Gateway, the Dubai-headquartered Open Banking platform, has concluded a seed round of $13 million and pre-series-A funding round of $12 million led by Tiger Global in the last eight months.

Tarabut Gateway’s solutions allow financial institutions and fintechs to leverage Open Banking to scale their businesses across the region. Tarabut Gateway welcomes new investors including the Dubai International Fintech Fund, the Investment Vehicle of Dubai’s International Financial Center (DIFC).

The investment follows Tiger Global’s most recent investment in other Open Banking Players across the globe including Truelayer in the UK and Mono in Africa. Since its inception in 2001, Tiger Global has made investments into 30 countries around the globe in key startup regions such as India, Asia and further afield.

As the first licensed Account Information Service Provider (AISP) and Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, Tarabut Gateway is fulfilling its mission to facilitate the creation and distribution of personalised financial services for banks and fintechs, as well as their end-users.

John Curtius, Partner at Tiger Global Management said; “People are increasingly sophisticated in how they utilise their money, and in a marketplace rife with such exciting growth such as the MENA region, we worked hard to find a company on the ground that shared our vision. With its understanding of the different markets in the region and a proven track record of innovation, we are delighted to have had the opportunity to invest in Tarabut Gateway.

We have followed Abdulla and his team for some time and are excited about the opportunity and potential that Open Banking presents in the MENA region.”

Abdulla Almoayed, Tarabut Gateway’s founder and CEO highlighted; “The MENA region is a complex web of countries and regulations. This makes it a challenging area to serve with any single overarching financial product whilst remaining compliant in a highly developed landscape with many differing markets.

I’m glad to say this round is living proof that Tarabut Gateway is successfully pioneering in developing a cutting-edge solution for banks and fintechs in the region.”

In February 2021, Tarabut Gateway raised $13 million in seed investment, the largest seed round in the MENA region for a fintech company. This pre–Series A doubles down on the company's credentials, spurring it forward to serve millions more potential customers in this diverse region.

• Egypt-based VC firm A15 has invested in fintech startup Sympl. The amount invested was not disclosed.
• Founded in October 2021 by Yasmine Henna, Mohamed El-Feky and Karim Tawfik, Sympl is a buy now pay later service, allowing merchants to sell products and services directly to customers on short-term and interest-free repayment plans.
• A15 is an early-stage venture capital firm with a focus on innovative tech startups. It has over 25 portfolio companies operating in 20 markets in verticals like fintech, e-commerce, SaaS and adtech.

Press release:

A15, a leading venture capital firm supporting entrepreneurs in the Mena region, has announced it is the first investor in one of Egypt’s latest startups to successfully launch, Sympl – which is set to disrupt the country’s consumer payments sector.

Focused on tech startups and with a long track record in generating value for fintech, A15 is a key partner both in capital investment but also knowledge and experience.

A15 invests in its portfolio companies at an early stage, working closely with the founders to generate value across different channels.

As well as providing an invaluable support network for founders, A15 also supports startups operationally, through product development or technology integrations, and preparing for future funding rounds and exit strategies.

A15’s partnership with Sympl - whose co-founders' experience includes co-creating leading consumer finance company ValU and B2B commerce platform Capiter – ideally positions both companies. With A15’s early investment in the startup, the venture capital firm was able to support the development of the Sympl checkout platform and successfully help to bring it to launch. Together, both companies will continue to drive innovation in Egypt’s payments sector and contribute to Egypt’s ongoing commitment to a transition to a cashless society.

Karim Beshara, General Partner at A15, commented:

“At A15, we are committed to partnering with strong founding teams in the very early stages of their ventures, where we can work closely together to unlock value. We pride ourselves on the close relationships we maintain with the founders and their teams, supporting them from the beginning as part of the A15 family. We are excited to have backed Sympl from day one and are proud of the early positive signs from their launch. We look forward to continued close collaboration and scaling the business.”

Mohamed Elfeky, Chief Executive Officer of Sympl, said:

“A15 has been a crucial partner in the early stages of our growth. Their support in product development initiatives, tech integrations and connections to their startups’ ecosystem have been important in our early success. We look forward to continuing our partnership with them to drive innovation, provide new solutions for merchants and consumers, and contribute to the transition to a cashless society in Egypt.”

With over 30 investments in the Mena region to date, A15 is a leading promoter of entrepreneurship and innovation.

In September 2018, A15 announced it had successfully sold a 76 per cent stake in its fintech portfolio company, TPAY, to leading African private equity firm Helios Investment Partners, making it the first fund to create a ‘Dragon’ - an exit that returns the value of the entire fund through the realised proceeds from a single investment - in the MENA region.

With the support of A15, Sympl’s “Save your money pay later” checkout platform successfully launched in October via an exclusive partnership with leading Apple reseller, Tradeline - on the release of the new iPhone 13. Other partnerships have been established with key retailers in the electronics and appliances sector (2B), jewellery (Al-Mawardy Jewelry, Damas, and Jawhara), auto parts (Your Parts), hypermarket (Hyperone) sectors, and covering merchants in an array of other categories such as furniture, fashion, travel and medical services. Since the launch, Sympl has reported a lot of traction from customers using Sympl technology on the platforms of existing merchants, as well as a long pipeline of merchants who want to partner to embed Sympl to enhance their customer checkout experience.

source: Wamda