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We ’ve seen how non - dilutive , taxation - based funding has risen up the priority ranks for party as the earned run average of ZIRP — as the Zero Interest Rate Period is now lovingly and somewhat yearningly make love — recedes into the distance , and securing speculation capital funds becomes harder . An example of this is how U.S. company in this vein are oft set up capital , such as Lighter Capital , with its new $ 130 million credit facility , in August .
And in Europe , at least 18 ( at last count ) RBF startup have appear , according to Dealroom data , pulling in an impressive $ 671 million in venture capital letter . And that ’s not to leave behind out U.S.-based firms such as Pipe , Capchase and Clearco , all launching on the continent .
Against this background , Flow48 , a UAE - based fintech , has now leaven $ 25 million in pre - Series A funding , with an design to push this business exemplar into the SME place in the MENA neighborhood . The round is a mix of fairness and debt , and investor let in 212 VC ( a Luxembourg - domiciled , Istanbul - based fund ) , Austria ’s Speedinvest , Daphni , Blockchain Founders Fund , Unpopular Ventures , Endeavor Catalyst and TLG , as well as angel investors including Scott Sandell from NEA .
The move is savvy because there is a lot more beyond Revenue Based Financing that a MENA - focalise fintech loaning platform could do in the growing regional saving . The area is forecast to grow by 5.4 % in 2022 ( the fastest rate since 2016 ) and by 3.5 % in 2023 , according to the IMF . Furthermore , according to Bain , the e - commerce market in Saudi Arabia , UAE and Egypt isprojectedto grow by more than 50 % to $ 33.3 billion in the next three years .
laminitis Idriss Al Rifai told me me that the troupe does n’t have many challenger per se in its core markets , though it does “ have exchangeable companies in the U.S./ Europe such as Wayflier , Pipe.com or the likes of Uncapped or Silvr in France . ”
“ However , ” he said the Middle East and its “ particular ecosystem and weaknesses ” ( his Holy Scripture ) is ripe for RBF .
You might say Al Rifai has some knowledge of those weakness . He was previously beginner of Fetchr , a Dubai - based express , chain armour delivery and logistics services company which lift $ 77 million , and famously brought last - mile legal transfer to a area which seldom has any sort of formal address organization . It achieved this by countenance users to geolocate the pick - up and knock off - off points for their packet , using a smartphone ’s Global Positioning System placement as the computer address .
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Al Rifai thinks that his experience of having to solve those “ last - mile ” issues in the Middle East will be brought to bear in this young arena of revenue - based funding : “ The level of comprehensiveness and truth of selective information in the Middle East is right smart different than the one we have in the U.S. or in Europe . Therefore our product is different in the sense that it is plugged into various source of information and datum . ”
He is therefore hoping Flow48 will be able to assemble a full-bodied thought of the the fiscal military capability of its SME node , and to that end the business firm has already finish a pilot of its platform between this twelvemonth and last .
Certainly , the funding gap for SMEs in emerging markets is well known , so the chance to bridge this could well do work in Flow48 ’s favour . It is already design to flesh out into South Africa .
However , as we ’ve see in the U.S. and Europe , it ’s unlikely Flow48 will be the last company to launch such a product in the growing MENA region .
FlapKap , a revenue - ground funding platform , isalreadyservicing markets such as Egypt and the UAE , and raise $ 3.6 million in seed funding last year , for representative .
