Egyptian FinTech Paymob Raises $50M in Record-Setting Series B

Egyptian merchant financial services Paymob has raised $50 million in Series B financing, reportedly the largest such funding for a FinTech in that country.

According to a Monday (May 9) report by Tech Funding News, the round brings the total funding raised by Paymob to $68.5 million. The company will use the capital to expand its product range and move into new markets throughout the Middle East and Africa.

Founded in 2015, Paymob’s payment infrastructure lets businesses accept payments online and in-store, while also providing better access to financial services. Last year the company saw its monthly volumes quadruple year-over-year, as it onboarded 10,000 merchants in less than two and a half years in an effort to reach 1 million businesses.

Learn more: Egypt’s Central Bank Approves Instant Payment Regulations

“We are thrilled to complete this significant fundraising with the support of such renowned international investors including, PayPal Ventures, the venture capital arm of a global pioneer in the digital payment space,” Paymob Co-founder and CEO Islam Shawky said. “It is a major endorsement of the strategy we have implemented to date and the scale of the opportunities we can harness.”

Shawky added that ongoing initiatives being rolled out by the Central Bank of Egypt to support FinTech companies were vital to Paymob’s growth.

As PYMNTS reported last year, the bank has been involved in a series of reforms over the past few years aimed at helping people who don’t have ties to a specific bank conduct their day-to-day business.

Related: Egypt’s Central Bank OKs Merchant Licenses for Contactless Payments

In September of 2021, the Central Bank of Egypt gave its approval to licenses that let merchants accept contactless payments from mobile phones.

Egypt in 2020 adopted a data protection law that set up new guidelines for how businesses across the country can process and store customer data digitally, legislation that was designed to fuel the growth of online banking in the market.