UAE startups grab lion’s share of regional funding

UAE startups grab lion’s share of regional funding
The UAE metaverse startup Numi raised $20 million in funding from Venom Ventures Fund. Founded in 2021, Numi aims to build a global entertainment ecosystem of virtual reality users, influencers and creators. (Supplied)
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Updated 20 January 2023

UAE startups grab lion’s share of regional funding

UAE startups grab lion’s share of regional funding
  • Tabby will utilize its funding to grow its product offering and expand current products into new markets

CAIRO: The UAE’s leading fintech startup Tabby raised $58 million in a series C funding round from international investors valuing the company at $660 million.

Established in 2019, Tabby provides users with buy now, pay later options to facilitate a financially friendly shopping experience online and offline.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Hosam Arab, CEO and founder of Tabby, said that the company will utilize its funding to grow its product offering and expand current products into new markets.

“We’re looking to expand our Tabby Card offering to other operating markets outside of the UAE. We’re also building toward consumer financial products to help people do more with their money,” he said.

The Tabby virtual card is a Visa card that allows shoppers to split their purchases into four payments at select in-store locations.




“We’re excited to grow with an incredible set of investors who believe in the opportunity to create a healthier relationship with money for consumers,” said Hosam Arab, Tabby CEO and founder. (Supplied)

Tabby managed to issue over 150,000 cards in six months with in-stores currently contributing 10 percent of total sales.

The company’s virtual card will apparently be launched soon in Saudi Arabia as 85 percent of its sales volume is happening in the Kingdom.

In September 2022, Abdulaziz Saja, general manager of Tabby Saudi Arabia, told Arab News that the company was planning to launch the virtual card in the Kingdom after witnessing the product’s success in the UAE.

“Tabby will continue to lead the generational shift towards fair and transparent financial products in the Middle East and North Africa region with every new product matching customer needs,” Arab stated.

The company works with over 10,000 brands including nine out of the 10 largest retail groups in the MENA region. It recently launched its services with noon, one of the region’s largest e-commerce marketplaces.

The funding round saw participation from Sequoia Capital India, STV, Mubadala Investment Capital, Arbor Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, and PayPal Ventures as its first investment in the Gulf Cooperation Council region.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Tabby virtual card is a Visa card that allows shoppers to split their purchases into four payments at select in-store locations.

• Tabby managed to issue over 150,000 cards in six months with in-stores currently contributing 10 percent of total sales.

“We’re excited to grow with an incredible set of investors who believe in the opportunity to create a healthier relationship with money for consumers in a region that’s ripe for change,” Arab stated.

The company operates in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and recently expanded to Egypt with plans to expand further and cover the rest of the GCC region.

Last year, Tabby managed to attract more than 3 million active shoppers on its platform and grew its revenue by five times over the previous year.

One Moto secures $150m to fuel UK expansion

The UAE’s electric mobility startup and last-mile delivery service provider One Moto secured $150 million from an undisclosed investor in the UK to scale operations into the country.

Founded in 2019, the company aims to become a one-stop platform for electric vehicles aimed at last-mile deliveries with presence in China, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Nepal.

“With the support of the finance deal, we expect to deploy up to 30,000 vehicles across the UK in H1 2023. This harnesses our conversations with UK Trade & Investment to open the first European assembly plant,” Adam Ridgawy, CEO of One Moto, said in a statement.

The company will utilize its funding round to expand to the UK to help tackle the decarbonization challenges from last-mile delivery.

Alaan raises $4.5m for regional expansion

The UAE-based B2B fintech startup Alaan secured $4.5 million in a pre-series A funding round by Presight Capital and Y Combinator to fuel regional expansion.

Founded in 2020, the company offers a platform for businesses to issue physical and virtual cards to manage business expenses, transactions, subscriptions, vendor payments, government services and in-store purchases.

The company plans to utilize its funding to grow its presence in the UAE and expand into new GCC markets in addition to enhancing its product offering.

“With the new funds, we are excited to further enhance our offering and expand our reach in new markets as we continue to help businesses improve their efficiency, productivity and employee experience through Alaan,” said Parthi Duraisamy, CEO and co-founder of Alaan.

The company, which currently has over 100 businesses in the UAE benefiting more than 5,000 employees, averaged a monthly growth of 500 percent in 2022.

Metaverse startup Numi secures $20m in funding   

The UAE metaverse startup Numi raised $20 million in funding from Venom Ventures Fund, a $1 billion venture capital fund targeting blockchain and Web3 projects.

Founded in 2021, Numi aims to build a global entertainment ecosystem of virtual reality users, influencers and creators.

The company plans to release a minigame experience with a variety of special rewards named Visual Novel in 2023. Venom became the first blockchain to fall under the jurisdiction of a regulatory body after it obtained a formal license to issue utility tokens from the Abu Dhabi Global Market.

Flyby closes a $1m seed round

Emirati last-mile startup Flyby raised $1 million in a seed funding round led by Silicon Valley’s FHS Capital and London’s VN2 Capital.

Founded in 2022, the company provides clients with smart delivery boxes infused with tracking and road safety technology in addition to digital ad spaces.




Flyby provides clients with smart delivery boxes infused with tracking and road safety technology. (Supplied)

The company will utilize its funding to deploy a fleet of Flyby smart boxes in Dubai along with scaling and developing its technological aspect.

Flyby’s smart delivery box contains a series of embedded sensors, with live telemetry data including GPS position, speed, acceleration and tilt allowing the measuring and monitoring of driver behavior.

EV charging companies partner to fuel industry

The UAE-based electric vehicle charging company Regeny partnered with its California counterpart EvGateway to deliver EV charging solutions for a rising industry.

The partnership is set to deploy 10,000 EV charging stations throughout the UAE by 2030 ranging from alternate current and direct current fast-charging hardware to charging management technology.

The UAE is expected to have around 42,000 EVs on the road by 2030 and is among the top 10 countries that are geared towards electric mobility with 44 percent of the residents willing to shift to EVs, according to the press release.


DP World in top 5 overseas investors since 2012

DP World in top 5 overseas investors since 2012
Updated 26 March 2023

DP World in top 5 overseas investors since 2012

DP World in top 5 overseas investors since 2012
  • Logistics company invested $320m in the last year

DUBAI: DP World has invested more than $10 billion in the global logistics sector since 2012, Emirates News Agency has reported. 

The figures make the UAE-based company one of the top five overseas investors during the time period, according to the most recent foreign direct investment data.

Despite the demand for logistics services slowing, along with the global economy, DP World invested $320 million in the last year. 

Other companies in the top five include Amazon, and Denmark’s AP Moller Maersk, making DP World the only company in the group not based in the US or Europe.

DP World CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said: “The data shared by ‘FDI Intelligence’ demonstrates where we stand globally within the logistics sector, not only in the last year but consistently over the last 10 years.

“DP World’s companies touch people’s lives around the world every day. Sometimes it is tangible, and sometimes we are in the background, making sure people and businesses get the goods they require.

“Our infrastructure opens untapped trade opportunities, grows economies and makes goods more affordable.

“Investing in developing economies helps trade go further, facilitates economic growth, attracts foreign investment and generates thousands of jobs — raising the quality of life for everyone.”

According to a study in January commissioned by DP World and led by Economist Impact, 96 percent of companies are changing their supply chains as a result of geopolitical events.

One of DP World’s priorities in 2022 was to expand its partnerships in order to realize this trade potential.

It strengthened its partnership with India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund to raise about $300 million, and it established a new platform with British International Investment to accelerate work in Africa.

The African continent has been a key focus area, with the construction of the Port of Ndayane in Senegal marking the start of a $1 billion investment.

Plans are also in the works to expand the capabilities of operations at Caucedo in the Dominican Republic, while the Callao Port expansion in Peru, when completed later this year, will reportedly create one of the single largest terminals in South America.

Another popular investment destination has been the UK. DP World has invested £2 billion ($2.44 billion) in the UK over the last decade, supporting thousands of jobs, WAM reported.


Standard Chartered agrees to sell business in Jordan

Standard Chartered agrees to sell business in Jordan
Updated 26 March 2023

Standard Chartered agrees to sell business in Jordan

Standard Chartered agrees to sell business in Jordan
  • Bank said in April that it was seeking to narrow its focus to faster-growing markets in the region, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

DUBAI: Standard Chartered plans to sell its Jordanian business to Arab Jordan Investment Bank (AJIB), the two parties said on Sunday, as the emerging markets-focused lender presses ahead with plans to exit seven markets in Africa and the Middle East.
The bank entered into an agreement with AJIB, subject to central bank approval, which will see Standard Chartered’s corporate, commercial and institutional banking, consumer lending and private banking businesses migrated to AJIB.
All Standard Chartered Bank employees in Jordan will be transferred to AJIB, it said an emailed statement.
Standard Chartered’s Africa and Middle East CEO Sunil Kaushal said the agreement is aligned with the banks global strategy “to deliver efficiencies, reduce complexity, as well as redirect resources within the Africa Middle East region to areas with the greatest potential to drive scale, grow and better support clients.”
AJIB said the purchase falls within the Jordanian lender’s strategy to grow its market share in the country, which continues to grow after it acquired HSBC’s banking business in Jordan in 2014 and National Bank of Kuwait’s banking business in Jordan in 2022.
Standard Chartered in April 2022 said it plans to leave seven markets, consisting of Angola, Cameroon, Gambia, Jordan, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe.
The bank said at the time it was seeking to exit markets where it is sub-scale and narrow its focus to faster-growing markets in the region, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.


Closing bell: Saudi benchmark index continues upward movement on promising market conditions

Closing bell: Saudi benchmark index continues upward movement on promising market conditions
Updated 26 March 2023

Closing bell: Saudi benchmark index continues upward movement on promising market conditions

Closing bell: Saudi benchmark index continues upward movement on promising market conditions

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index continued its upward trajectory on Sunday as it went up by 12.97 points or 0.93 percent to close at 10,459.36. The promising market conditions resulted in a rise in investor confidence, pushing the market up.

The parallel market, Nomu, also rose by 174.79 points or 0.92 percent to close at 19,231.63, while the MSCI Tadawul 30 Index gained 0.02 percent to reach 1,423.63 on Sunday. Total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR4.05 billion ($1.08 billion).

On Thursday, during the first session of Ramadan month, the main index gained 95.88 points and closed at 10,446.39.

Arab Sea Information System Co. emerged as the top gainer, as its share prices went up by 9.96 percent to SR78.40 followed by Al Kathiri Holding Co. whose share prices surged by 9.88 percent to SR55.60.

Zain KSA which reported a net profit of SR550 million in 2022, saw its shares surge 9.83 percent to SR11.84.

Thimar Development Holding Co. was the worst performer, dropping 9.95 percent to SR43.45, followed by Al Sagr Cooperative Insurance Co. whose share prices went down by 6.08 percent to SR12.66.

Meanwhile, Horizon Food Co., affiliated with Tabuk Agriculture Development Co. began trading on Nomu on Sunday with an opening price of SR37 per share and closed the session at SR44.95, up 21.49 percent.

On Sunday, Amwaj International Co. announced its financial results for 2022. In a statement issued to Tadawul, the company revealed that it recorded a 2.7 percent rise in net profit to SR29.02 million in 2022, compared to SR28.26 million in the year-ago period.

Sure Global Tech Co. reported a net profit of SR24.07 million in 2022, up 33 percent from SR18.12 million in 2021. In a bourse statement, the company attributed the rise in profit to a 12 percent increase in revenues driven by the product segment, adequately supported by the expansion of the customer base.

Sure Global Tech Co. also added that net profit increased in 2022 due to the revenue growth in infrastructure, professional and digital services segments. Despite the rise in net profit, the company’s share prices fell by 1.67 percent to close at SR53.10.

Arabian Pipes Co., also known as APC turned profitable in 2022, as the company reported a net profit of SR8.9 million, versus a net loss of SR60.1 million in 2021. According to a bourse statement, the net profit of the company rose in 2022 due to an increase in sales which went up by 37 percent.

Driven by the rise in profits, the share prices of Arabian Pipes Co. went up by 9.52 percent to SR42.

Another company that reported its financial results on Sunday was Saudi Ground Services Co. In 2022, the company trimmed its net losses to SR244.48 million, compared to SR254.41 million in 2021. Even though the company performed well in 2022 compared to 2021, its share prices dropped by 4.76 percent to SR22.


Saudi REDF deposits over $246m in Sakani accounts for housing projects  

Saudi REDF deposits over $246m in Sakani accounts for housing projects  
Updated 26 March 2023

Saudi REDF deposits over $246m in Sakani accounts for housing projects  

Saudi REDF deposits over $246m in Sakani accounts for housing projects  

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Real Estate Development Fund deposited more than SR925 million ($246.2 million) in the accounts of Sakani beneficiaries in March 2023.  

The Sakani program was launched in 2017 by the REDF to facilitate homeownership in the Kingdom, by developing new housing stock, allocating plots and homes to nationals and financing their purchase. 

The deposit, which also comes from the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing and the REDF, is in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 which aims to increase the proportion of citizens who own a home to 70 percent.  

Mansour bin Madi, CEO of REDF, stated that the total amount deposited in the accounts of Sakani beneficiaries since the announcement of the transformation program in June 2017 until March 2023, exceeded SR46.2 billion.  

He also said that the total fund for the current month of March was allocated to support the profits of various housing contracts.  

Bin Madi explained that the fund launched the second phase of product governance and provided an electronic service that allows the beneficiaries with self-construction projects to update the stages of building their homes.  

This is to emphasize the importance of the beneficiaries' commitment to direct the stages of building their housing and follow up on the stages.  

He added this is to ensure that the fund supports and facilitates are provided to the beneficiaries during the time period specified in the financing contracts and housing support regulations. 


IMF says risks to financial stability have increased, calls for vigilance

IMF says risks to financial stability have increased, calls for vigilance
Updated 26 March 2023

IMF says risks to financial stability have increased, calls for vigilance

IMF says risks to financial stability have increased, calls for vigilance

RIYADH: International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Sunday that risks to financial stability have increased and called for continued vigilance although actions by advanced economies have calmed market stress.

Speaking during the first day of the China Development Forum, Georgieva noted that 2023 poses yet another challenging and thought-provoking year with an expected global growth rate slowing to below 3 percent.  

This is mainly attributed to the repercussion of the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as monetary tightening, the IMF chief explained.  

Even though progressive economies have attempted to compose market stress, the overall outlook for 2024 remains weak with the growth rate estimated to stand below the historic average of 3.8 percent, she pointed out.

"So, we continue to monitor developments closely and are assessing potential implications for the global economic outlook and global financial stability," Georgieva reassured. 

Moreover, when it comes to vulnerable and low-income countries with high levels of debt, she emphasized that the IMF is paying close attention to those in order to further support them.  

In addition to this, there is a risk of the world splitting into rival economic blocs, resulting in "a dangerous division that would leave everyone poorer and less secure," as a consequence of geo-economic fragmentation, Georgieva warned. 

That said, China has a significant role to play with regard to minimizing the risks of financial instability. It has been forecasted that every one percentage point boost in China’s gross domestic product results in a 0.3 percentage point rise in growth in other Asian economies, she said. 

Consequently, policymakers in China are urged to focus on further raising productivity while rebalancing the economy and shifting away from investment while moving towards more sturdy consumption-driven growth.

According to conjectures, such reforms are capable of lifting real GDP by as much as 2.5 percent by 2027, and by around 18 percent by 2037, explained. 

The China Development Forum is an annual high-level global conference held in China right after the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference each year. 

This year, the forum is taking place from March 25 up until March 27 under the theme “Economic Recovery: Opportunities and Cooperation.” 

The conference poses an opportunity for participants to connect with political, economic, and significant decision-makers in the Asian country.