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In June 2021,Ziina , fresh from completing YC ’s first cohort that class andsecuring a $ 7.5 million seminal fluid , launch its fintech app to 20,000 retail client , provide them to ship and get money .
Three years after , the Dubai - based inauguration , which now bet 50,000 retail and byplay customer after expanding its offerings to touch the needs of micro , small and medium - sized business in the UAE , has sack up $ 22 million in Series A financing top by Altos Ventures .
Indeed , such sizable follow - on funding despite the global financial support slowdown underscores investors ’ assurance in the fintech troupe ’s growth — the company claims 34 % calendar month - over - month growth in client for the last year , and says its revenues have increase ten - fold over the same catamenia .
carbon monoxide gas - founder and CEOFaisal Toukantold TechCrunch that three factor made Ziina particularly exciting to investor . They admit the chop-chop spread out SME segment in the UAE , its focus on mathematical product - precede growth and its recently get key bank license .
Expanding SME segment
Ziina originated as a peer - to - peer ( P2P ) payment app for splitting visor , such as for group trips or snag . While the app gather traction with retail customer in the UAE , some who ran businesses seek to employ the digital wallet to station and get payments , too , accord to Toukan .
In reply , Ziina organically expanded its chopine into two segment : Ziina Personal for splitting bills among protagonist and Ziina Business for collecting payment . The first occupation feature allowed users to send payment links and get paid through Apple Pay , Google Pay , Mastercard and Visa .
As demand from businesses increased , Ziina developed more product for them : a payment gateway ( checkout ) integrated with platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify for on-line payments , decimal point - of - sales agreement ( POS ) result for in - soul payments using QR codes and payments via societal medium . In addition to these feature , Ziina added CRM functions so businesses can track customer detail and interaction .
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The YC - backed inauguration continues to put up its P2P service , but it ’s clear why most of its production focus is now on small businesses . The startup aim an underserved market of 560,000 SMEs in the UAE , whichaccount for over 94 % of all companies and put up about 60 % of the rural area ’s GDP . As of 2023,around 77 % of SMEsin the UAE had adopt digital payments , fueling the uprise need for financial management tool .
“ We ’re an all - in - one platform for business organisation to get paid in the UAE , having evolved from being purely a consumer app to an ecosystem that get in touch consumers and businesses for payments under one platform , ” Toukan explained on the call . “ We search at the general experience as consumers can compensate businesses , business can compensate consumers , and then build that web effect across the two client segment . And that is one of the primal differentiators we have in our product strategy and business . So basically , everything should be under one ecosystem where masses have a financially trust partner . ”
Product-led growth
From a product standpoint , Ziina says it addresses three critical hurting item for SMEs in the payment space : accessibility , be transparency and user experience .
Regarding accessibility , SMEs can use the fintech to unfold accounts and set up a payment mainframe in minutes or else of week .
In term of monetary value , Ziina say it offers straightforward pricing with no obscure fee — 2.6 % plus 1 AED ( about US$ 0.25 ) for each payment connection and POS dealing , and 2.9 % plus 1 AED for each defrayal gateway dealing .
Lastly , customer have a dashboard to track and resign online and offline defrayal and payment link .
With Ziina ’s speedy ontogeny over the last twelvemonth , it now serves 50,000 alive substance abuser , including both retail and business customer ; its business customers foreshorten across style and gaming to travel and touristry . Toukan also tells TechCrunch that the startup now processes about 1,050 Kuwaiti dirham ( $ 280 ) every 60 seconds and is on track to handle 1.1 billion dirhams ( ~$300 million ) in annualized transaction volume , up from 550 million dirhams ( ~$150 million ) last year .
Ziina ’s development has come primarily through mathematical product - led efforts without a consecrate sales team . According to the chief executive , 55 % of its customers have come organically , while the sleep have get along from B2B referrals .
However , as it continues to scale and provide more financial services off the back of the banking license it receive , that ’ll in all likelihood vary . The ship’s company is onboarding its first sale hires , including some from Revolut .
Ziina claims to be the first venture - backed startup with the stored value installation ( SVF ) permit from the Central Bank of the UAE . This allows the fintech to volunteer more financial solution — excluding lending , which requires a separate license — and take in taxation from the float when customer keep plus on the platform , for example .
Toukan believe that this license and financial ecosystem of intersection ( the fintech is venturing into disbursal direction soon with the launch of its card product , ZiiCard ) chip in Ziina an boundary over other regional fintechs that provide overlapping financial services . Paymob , for instance , provide POS terminals;Tabbyis produce its financial offerings outside of buy now , pay up later;Teldaoffers P2P payments ; andMamois in the spend direction line .
Despite this contest , the master executive , who establish the fintech withSarah ToukanandAndrew Gold , go through ample market potential for Ziina in the apace growing payments sector for consumers and businesses across the MENA region .
“ The Middle East seems to be rise quite powerfully , especially regarding GDP growth . And the UAE is one of the pioneer in that , ” the CEO remarked . “ If we at Ziina do our jobs correctly , which we ’re quite excited about , we should be capable to have 200,000 monthly active stage business on the chopine four years from now , given the raise of SMEs in the UAE . And if you seem at players like Nubank in Brazil , they hit those targets of between 10 to 20 % market penetration . So we destine to do that and be the Nubank of the region . ”
The Series A round included involvement from Activant Capital , Avenir Growth , Class 5 , FinTech Collective , FJ Labs , Jabbar Internet Group , JIMCO , Middle East Venture Partners , Y Combinator and Zinal Growth . This bestow Ziina ’s total venture raised to over $ 30 million since its inception in 2020 .
