Paymob, the largest payments facilitator in the MENA area, founded by Egyptian IT entrepreneurs Islam Shawky, has closed a $22 million Series B extension round, increasing its total Series B funding to $72 million.
The investment was led by EBRD Venture Capital, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst and current investors PayPal Ventures, BII, FMO, A15, Include, and Helios Digital Ventures, which invests in high-growth tech firms in fintech, human capital, and emerging technologies.
PayPal Ventures, Kora Capital, and Clay Point led a $50 million Series-B financing in 2022, which was followed by this newest funding. Since then, Paymob has had sixfold revenue growth in its primary Egyptian market, demonstrating its profitability and market leadership.
Paymob, the first fintech to earn Egypt’s Payments Facilitator license in 2018, moved to the UAE in 2022 and received Saudi Payments PTSP certification in May 2023. In December 2023, it became the first multinational fintech to obtain Oman’s PSP license, bolstering its regional footprint.
The business intends to use the fresh funding to strengthen its market leadership in Egypt and expand operations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets, which include six Arab countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
Its Series B funding enabled the company to launch its app in 2023 and treble its merchant base to 350,000 in MENA. Paymob now supports 50 payment methods through its gateway, POS terminals, and app.
Islam Shawky, Paymob’s co-founder and CEO, expressed optimism about the company’s potential. “This funding will help Paymob fully capitalize on the momentum in our established markets as we accelerate our GCC roll-out,” Shawky informed the crowd. “We remain committed to creating a cutting-edge infrastructure enabling SMEs across the region to thrive in the digital economy.”
Paymob, launched in 2015 by Islam Shawky, Alain El Hajj, and Mostafa Menessy, has processed more than 120 million transactions totaling more than $300 million. The startup supports 12 million customers and 150,000 agents, allowing businesses to make online and offline payments using mobile wallets.
It just launched embedded checkout experiences for Shopify and WooCommerce. Shawky, one of Egypt’s youngest entrepreneurs and a board member of the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, has led Paymob to process millions of transactions each year.
The business continues to promote digital banking solutions for the region’s SMEs. The latest fundraising round intends to scale operations and increase Paymob’s position in the rapidly expanding MENA fintech sector.