Category: Startups

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has rapidly emerged as a hub for fintech innovation in recent years, fueled by the country’s ambitious Vision 2030 plan and a supportive regulatory environment. As a result, numerous startups have burst onto the scene, leveraging cutting-edge technology to disrupt the financial services sector. In this article, we explore the top 7 fintech startups in Saudi Arabia that are reshaping the industry.

Note: The order in which the fintech startups were listed doesn’t necessarily indicate a ranking from best to worst. Rather, the list aims to provide an overview of some of the most innovative and impactful fintech startups operating in Saudi Arabia, covering a diverse range of financial services and technologies. Each startup has its own unique strengths and focuses, catering to different segments of the market and offering various solutions. The order should be seen as a way to organize and present the information rather than a definitive ranking.

1. Tamara

Pioneering the buy now, pay later (BNPL) model in the Kingdom, Tamara enables customers to spread their purchases over interest-free installments. This innovative payment solution is helping to boost e-commerce and improve affordability for consumers.

2. Geidea

A leading payment technology provider, Geidea offers point-of-sale (POS) solutions, mobile payments, and e-commerce gateways. Their advanced infrastructure is accelerating the adoption of cashless payments throughout the country.

3. Lendo

Lendo is an innovative platform that connects borrowers with lenders, offering a digital alternative to traditional bank loans. By leveraging advanced algorithms and data-driven decision-making, Lendo is able to assess creditworthiness quickly and accurately, allowing users to access loans with competitive interest rates. The platform is also committed to promoting financial literacy, enabling borrowers to make informed decisions about their financial future.

4. PayTabs

PayTabs enables businesses to accept online payments through a suite of payment processing solutions. Their focus on security and fraud prevention has made them a trusted partner for merchants in the Kingdom.

5. OneCard

OneCard offers a unified digital card for various payment methods, including credit, debit, and prepaid cards. Their platform simplifies online transactions and allows users to manage their finances with ease.

6. Raqamyah

As one of the first peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in the Kingdom, Raqamyah connects investors with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking financing. Their digital lending marketplace is fostering economic growth and empowering entrepreneurs.

7. Manafa Capital

MANAFA is an investment marketplace for businesses regulated by the Saudi Capital Market Authority.

Al Nashmiah Farms, committed to aiding women burdened by debt and facing the threat of incarceration, offers a novel solution for them to earn their way to freedom. Under the leadership of Razan Harb, motivated by her family’s financial struggles, the farm has become a pivotal force in rescuing those ensnared in the debt trap, providing them with employment and a sense of purpose.

Harb, observing the plight of many women who took loans in hopes of improving their families’ fortunes, only to be overwhelmed by unfortunate circumstances, economic downturns, and oppressive taxes, has established a farm that serves as both a source of employment and a supplier of high-quality produce to major markets.

The farm’s operations include the provision of household essentials, emphasizing the importance of quality through methods such as nitrogen sterilization and the use of healthy packaging. Additionally, Harb has initiated work-from-home opportunities, enabling women to engage in the packing of vegetables and fruits for market and direct sales, thereby offering a sustainable model for economic independence and recovery from debt.

Tribal Credit, a financial platform empowering SMEs in emerging markets has secured a renewed $150 million USD debt facility from Partners for Growth (PFG) until 2025. The company said in a press release today.

This expansion bolsters the Tribal’s presence in Saudi Arabia and fuels growth in Mexico and Latin America, bringing innovative financial services to more SMEs.

Years of investment in credit processes and products have resulted in remarkable credit performance, ensuring a solid financial foundation. PFG, a specialty lending firm, praises Tribal’s credit performance and financial products, expressing excitement about the partnership.

Tribal’s focus on credit accessibility and digital payments has transformed SMEs’ financial landscape in emerging markets, facilitating numerous transactions. Tribal leaders emphasize the significance of their partnership with PFG and the potential to seize market opportunities.

The enhanced debt facility underlines Tribal’s mission to empower SMEs in emerging markets with innovative tech solutions, particularly in Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

With the number of companies and VCs asking about developments related to SVB, especially the upcoming Wednesday payroll date, here is a collated set of resources and information. None of this is confidential or proprietary information that was shared but is from publicly available sources.

Note these are for resources only and should not be construed as legal advice, endorsement, PR, official company policy, or advertisement – they may be out of date. This is a rapidly developing situation, and regulators and parties will likely update many answers by Monday. If anything is incorrect, accidentally misrepresented, or has been updated, feel free to comment.

The goal of this post is to collate in one place what is out there as it relates to the immediate need of most startup companies: running payroll for employees on Wed.

This is a community, open-source resource only based on others’ inputs. This is not a PR document nor necessarily reflects the official policies of any companies mentioned. It’s meant as a helpful starting resource only of any/all available avenues toward the primary short-term goal of getting startup ecosystem employees paid.

If SVB isn’t acquired, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will begin selling off assets to pay creditors. If that happens, update your contact info and submit a claim here: https://lnkd.in/gR3WKTav (Requirements and eligibility for those claims are expected on or after Monday, March 23, 2023).

Liquidity for Payroll Wed

First things first: how do we get enough liquid funds to make payroll by Wednesday?

• FDIC-insured deposits up to $250k should be available Monday morning.
• Advanced dividends from remaining non-insured holdings will likely be paid out this week – even as early as Monday/Tuesday – in an amount from 30-80%. All of this is unconfirmed, and these funds may or may not land in time for running Wednesday’s payroll.
• Some understand that any wires that went out of SVB accounts before receivership took effect will still be going out and landing Monday/Tuesday. This is unconfirmed and TBD. The most recent update.

• Any custodial accounts held with SVB (but with a custodian such as US Bank, Goldman, Black Rock, etc.) should be available. Still, it would be best if you worked directly with that custodian to gain access to those funds, and those teams and customer service lines are understandably very impacted right now.
• Currently unclear how SVB credit cards handled by third-party providers (Mastercard, etc.) are being treated.

Loan Providers

Other possible funding opportunities to bridge payroll:

Arc

Arc offers short-term credit facilities/bridge loans (up to $250k or current cash position) to help founders make payroll and other working capital needs. https://www.arc.tech/payroll

Brex

Brex is offering short-term liquidity (I understand this maxes out at ~$250k, but this is unconfirmed)

• News alert here
• Application here

Brex is also offering emergency bridge loans

Brex is offering emergency bridge loans to qualified SVB customers to help minimize the impact of recent events on payroll and other operational spending. https://www.brex.com/svb-emergency-line

Capchase is offering emergency funding to fund payroll

• News alert here
• Application here

Figure

The understanding/rumor is that they will offer to purchase receivership certificates, possibly as early as next week. Check out their website, where any updates will likely be made – here.

Lighter Capital

Visit https://www.lightercapital.com/

Nitro

Nitra provides expedited underwriting for new credit lines and bridge loans outside healthcare – up to $200k on a card and more on a bridge loan.

• Landing page: https://www.nitra.com/svb-support

• Uncapped emergency funding

• Uncapped has also launched an emergency funding programme to support founders impacted. To receive more information, you can email [email protected]. You should include the following in the email: Short-term funding requirement; Latest financials; Last 3 months’ bank statements; Total balance at SVB
• They are looking to provide the funding as early as next week — up to $500k by Wednesday and up to $3m by next week.

Paperstack

Provides emergency funding for e-commerce and retail companies affected by SVB

• Landing page HERE

Ramp

Offering deferred payments, stable limits, and flexible payment terms are detailed here.

Tapline

Tapline short-term funding. Tapline is also not impacted by SVB and remains capable of providing funding to SaaS companies impacted by the fallout. You can find more information here or reach out directly to [email protected].

Tranch

Tranch is offering credit lines to help minimize the impact of recent events on operational spend up to $500k to pay supplier invoices including EOR

• https://tranch.com/suppliers/svb

Viceversa

Created a Business Continuity plan to support EU-based companies affected with capital to cover expenses such as commercial activities, marketing, and inventory. Fast track and grace periods.

• Application here
• News here

AngelList

• “Lifeline Loan” Info is below. Here’s the link

AngelList’s new product is designed to help impacted startups to get temporary loans from investors with online signing and funding. Lifeline Agreement will also have built-in banking access (if the company needs it). “Lifeline Agreement will include a promissory note with a standard interest rate (7 percent) for a short-term loan from your investors, lending enough to meet urgent needs. Online signing process with a single link to share and works with AngelList Banking or any bank,” Sumukh Sridhara, Founder Products Lead at AngelList, said in a tweet. The lifeline agreement is currently available to startups for free.

• Loan documents

• AngelList offers standardized loan documents and fast new bank accounts.

Funding Circle

• Outside of SVB issues, they share that they offer a 48-hour turnaround in short-term capital, but maxed to $250k or so – link here.

Gulp Data

Non-dilutive funding using data as collateral – more info here

Fundlizi

Marketplace for finding funding sources, with an SVB landing page announcement – more info here

OnDeck

small business loans – more info here

Credibly – small business loans, some of which claim to be available same-day

• More info here

Lendzi

• Marketplace to compare lending options
• States “get funding fast” but no specific landing page for SVB-impacted businesses so unclear if funds would hit in time for running payroll.
• More info here

Clearco

• Funding for e-commerce companies only
• Connect your store account (Amazon, Shopify, etc.) and, based on prior six months revenue can provide working capital.
• More info here

Pipe

• Revenue-based capital
• Unclear whether timing would make it by Wed’s payroll
• More info here

Flow Capital

• Growth capital, $1M – $7M
• No specific landing page to assist SVB-impacted companies
• Describes as capital “within 4 weeks” so likely NOT an option for Wed’s payroll but possibly other mid-term liquidity needs
• More info here

Founderpath

• Revenue-based financing for SaaS companies
• Unclear if any specific assistance or urgent programs for SVB-impacted customers as there is no SVB-impact landing page
• More info here

Square Loans

• Small business loans up to $250k
• States you can “move money into your account as soon as tomorrow.”
• No specific landing page for SVB-impacted companies
• More info here

Paypal Working Capital

• Up to $150k for first-time borrowers
• Unclear timing re: Wed’s payroll, no landing page specific to SVB-impacted companies
• More info here

SaaS Capital

• Non-dilutive capital must have at least $250k MRR
• Describes itself as a 6-8 week process; not helpful for Wed’s payroll, but depending on how events unfold, possibly helpful for mid-term capital issues
• More info here

Stripe Capital

• Described as “fas-capital” but has no specific SVB landing page, so unclear if fast enough for Wed’s payroll
• More info here

Bridge Funding – Payroll Companies

Funding from your payroll company

• ADP: There is a rumor (rumor only) that ADP may be providing short-term, one-time payroll loans for next week. Reach out to them if you run payroll w/ SVB on ADP.
• Remote: Remote founder has announced that they will cover March 15th payroll run for all companies (even those on SVB themselves as a company) via an announcement on Linkedin.

SAFE/Bridge Financing (Investors)

• Short-term bridge SAFEs or Convertible Notes by existing investors on template documents (templates are floating around for SAFEs, bridge notes, and convertible notes).
• A number of VCs have announced low-interest bridge loans to their portfolio companies to make payroll. Ask your investors for bridge funding first and foremost, as you may get a lower interest rate loan than other commercially available sources. You likely need money from them to land in your non-SVB account by Tues am at the latest to run payroll for Wed.

Alternative banks that specialize in startups

Mercury

• Apply here https://mercury.com/
• Email: [email protected]

Brex

• Apply here brex.com/
• AND Email Conor Bradshaw at [email protected] to fast-track your application.

First Republic Bank

• Link here
• Email: Safa Aliabadi [email protected]

Wells Fargo:

• Bobbi Shah: [email protected]

Chase (JP Morgan Chase):

• Benedict Iturralde, [email protected]
  • Please provide the following to expedite account opening:
    1. Legal business name:
    2. EIN:
    3. Ownership structure in percentages: Are members also signers?
    4. Address and Phone (if different from personal):
    5. Brief description of what the business does:
    6. Attach Delaware certificate of formation (Dated within the last year)

    It is recommended that you go to a bank branch after doing this because online account setup may take up to 5 days.

Bridge Bank

JP Ferro: [email protected]

https://www.westernalliancebancorporation.com/bridge-bank/about-us

Prominent venture capitalists, technology executives, and founders of startups have been racing to save companies that have been caught up in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The sudden failure of the bank on Friday, which focuses on tech startups, has left California’s tech entrepreneurs worried about how to make payroll, leading industry executives to do what they can to save small businesses from going under.

As more than 3,500 CEOs and founders representing some 220,000 workers signed a petition started by Y Combinator appealing to the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and others to backstop depositors and investigate any “malfeasance or mismanagement” by SVB executives, venture investors have been advising startups to seek alternatives to gain short-term liquidity. Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman bailed out some entrepreneurs from his pocket. Small startups have been stepping up to help others, highlighting the tech community’s willingness to support each other in times of crisis.

Over the weekend, Henrique Dubugras, co-CEO of fintech startup Brex, worked hard to provide a lifeline for startups affected by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

On Friday, Brex announced an emergency credit line to help startups make payroll, which Dubugras said had attracted $1.5 billion in demand from nearly 1,000 firms by Saturday evening. Meanwhile, Aleem Mawani, founder of small company Streak, offered his funds to help other startups struggling to pay staff, saying he aimed to prioritize lending to those living paycheck to paycheck.

Petition Signed by Over 3,500 CEOs and Founders

By late Saturday, more than 3,500 CEOs and founders representing around 220,000 workers had signed a petition started by Y Combinator, which appealed directly to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to backstop depositors, including many small businesses who face a risk of failing to pay their staff in the next 30 days. The petition calls for more robust regulatory oversight and capital requirements for regional banks and an investigation into any malfeasance or mismanagement by Silicon Valley Bank executives, warning that over 100,000 jobs could be at risk.

Investors Advise Startups to Seek Alternative Liquidity Sources

Venture investors have been advising startups to find alternative liquidity sources. Lowercarbon Capital, for example, has offered loans to portfolio companies that have funds stuck at Silicon Valley Bank. The firm will provide payroll support for the next two weeks and plans to wire out funds on Monday. Meanwhile, Khosla Ventures is talking to more than 100 portfolio companies, assessing their critical needs and plans to bridge where it is a lead or major investor.

Altman Offers a Lifeline to Struggling Entrepreneurs

Altman has provided a lifeline to struggling entrepreneurs like Rad AI’s Gurson. When the startup’s attempts to transfer funds out of Silicon Valley Bank failed, Gurson emailed Altman, who responded within an hour or two, offering him six figures, enough to make payroll with no strings attached. Altman said he did not view his contributions as risky, even if Silicon Valley Bank fails to find a buyer or loan, adding that “people are facing a real liquidity crunch through no fault of their own, and employees need to get paid.”

The collapse of SVB has caused many in the tech industry to call for greater regulatory oversight and capital requirements for regional banks. The petition, signed by over 3,500 CEOs and founders, seeks to ensure that depositors, many small businesses at risk of failing to pay their staff in the next 30 days, are backstopped.

With over 100,000 jobs at risk, it is essential that the tech industry comes together to find a solution. Venture investors have advised startups to seek alternatives to gain short-term liquidity, and some have already started offering loans to portfolio companies with funds stuck at SVB.

Despite the difficult circumstances, many in the industry have shown their willingness to support others. Altman’s generosity in bailing out entrepreneurs from his own pocket and Dubugras’ efforts to secure emergency credit lines for startups are just a few examples.

In times of crisis, the tech industry has historically come together to support one another. The collapse of SVB has reminded us of the importance of community and collaboration in times of need. As the industry moves forward, it is essential to remember the lessons learned and ensure that the necessary regulatory oversight is in place to prevent such events from happening again.

Egyptian startup PraxiLabs offers people equal opportunities to access an enhanced science education by providing 3D interactive virtual simulations that are safe, affordable, and accessible anytime, anywhere, for educational institutions and students alike.

Founded by Khadija El-Bedweihy in 2016, PraxiLabs is an online learning platform providing interactive science labs for students, even enabling scientific experiments that are not doable in the actual lab.

“While many educational areas have benefited and progressed through ed-tech, the labs’ situation remained “as is.” It is important to get hands-on experience, and this went neglected for a long time,” Khadija said ElBedweihy, founder and CEO of PraxiLabs.

“Now, with simulations, students get very close to the real experience and practice as much as possible so that they make the best out of it once they have a chance to get into a real lab, or even if students don’t get into the real lab, they will have still learned, experienced and practiced a very real-life-like environment.”

“Our initial aim was to create brand awareness and for people to get to know PraxiLabs,” ElBedweihy said. “Things have increased heavily since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there is increased demand for online learning. Until today, more than 65,000 students have benefited from our labs.”

PraxiLabs is currently serving B2B customers in seven countries – Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United States (US), Peru, the United Kingdom (UK), Singapore, and Thailand – and planning further expansion.

“We aim to grow into the African markets, further grow in the Americas and Europe, and expand further into Asia,” said ElBedweihy. The startup also has B2C users in 160 countries.

All of this has been achieved with relatively little funding. PraxiLabs raised US$150,000 after taking part in the Norway-based Katapult Accelerator in 2018. but beyond that is self-funded. ElBedweihy said it is in the process of raising a round of investment and has some soft commitments from some angels.

“We are still looking for the right VC as we are interested in the cash and the right network, experience, and understanding of the ed-tech industry,” she said.

Egypt’s Fashion and Beauty Marketplace, The Fashion Kingdom (TFK), has released a week-long campaign leveraging data for women’s empowerment in celebration of International Women’s Day 2022.

More than a Generic Greeting

The Campaign, launched on March 2nd, went to Linkedin to showcase the power of every female leader working at, for, and with TFK in celebration of International Women’s Day.

TFK is the digital launchpad for local and international Fashion and beauty brands with a hybrid business model of the marketplace, retail, and D2C brands.

TFK empowers the masses to make online shopping easy and accessible through technology and curated exclusive supply driven by data analytics.

For customers, TFK offers innovative curated supply, customer-centric tech & UX, customer-friendly delivery & returns, and a full-fledged payment suite.

TFK helps brands with their digital transformation and readiness to sell online, generating demand and ROI-driven marketing programs, logistics and warehousing services, co-production, and co-financing brands’ collections for curated brands.

How IWD Celebrations Should Be

From Co-Founder and COO Marianne to inspiring driver Abir who drives TFK and drives real change with her inspiring story, TFK employs a fascinating array of empowered females.

Abir says, “Shortly after I applied to join TFK, I was called in for an interview where they had a chat with me about my skills and experience. I dodged the bullet and told them I was an experienced driver and wanted to join the logistics team.”

“They asked me what reasonable adjustments I would need. I was called the following day and offered the job.”

“Naturally, I was over the moon! As a female with a physical impairment, I was waiting for a rejection letter, especially since I was applying to be a courier (driver).” 

The digital platform boasts a whopping 43% of female employees, one of the highest rates in Middle Eastern startups.

Another eye-opening number is that 50% of their leadership roles are also assigned to females.

On the business side of it all, 32% of vendors on TFK are female-owned and operated brands.

Fadi Antaki, Founder & CEO  of TFK, comments, “I’m extremely proud of TFK’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.”

“We have made conscious efforts to minimize barriers to recruitment and promotion, and we emphasize the individual’s competencies rather than gender, physical abilities, age, or background.”

Why this story?

This story matters because according to the report “The gender gap in employment: What’s holding women back?” The gender gap in Egypt as of 2022 is an astounding 51.7. The current labor force participation rate for women is 15.4%. For men, it’s 67.1%.

An Egyptian Tech Startup to create a consciously equal work environment is a bright step into an otherwise unfair playing field for women across the Middle East.

Kudos TFK and Happy IWD from us all at Digital Boom.

Chefaa, Egypt’s patient-centered pharmacy benefits platform, has raised a venture round from globally renowned investors Newtown Partners and Global Brain and GMS Capital Partners. 

The undisclosed round is part of Chefaa’s journey to expand its network further, support the release of its Chefaa Prime product, a complete medical insurance alternative designed for emerging markets, and launch officially in new markets.

Moreover, this venture round will fund Chefaa’s efforts to digitize chronic illness management through a comprehensive approach to achieve measurable improvement in chronic patients’ quality of life. 

Global Investors for a Global Perspective

This is also the three VCs’ first venture into the Egyptian market.

Newtown Partners, operating out of South Africa, is an early-stage venture fund run by entrepreneurs with investments in significant names such as Swyft, Reach Labs, and Blockfolio.

Global Brain operates out of Japan with a massive portfolio of 24 IPOs and 54 Merge & Acquisitions in industries such as Commerce, Gaming, Fintech, and IoT, among many more. 

On the venture round, Llew Claasen, Managing Partner at Newtown Partners comments

“We have found Chefaa to be compelling for its proven ability to scale across geographies, impressive traction and growth across MENA, a strong female-led team with extensive healthcare and pharmaceutical expertise, a large, engaged base of customers.”

“As well as strong alignment with our pharmaceutical e-commerce thesis and their ability to digitize healthcare interfaces.”

AI for A Human Patient Experience

Chefaa is one of the leading pharmaceutical and wellness platforms in MENA, focusing on offering compliant, ethical, and patient-centric services to users through several services.

The services include Chefaa’s platform, App, and other bespoke AI-driven solutions such as Chefaa Prime, a specially designed insurance alternative.

This subscription-based service offers a seamless array of support to patients and medical customers from all walks of life and income levels. 

Mr. Yasuhiko Yurimoto, Founder, CEO, and General Partner at Global Brain, comments on the venture round “There is usually a challenge to meet patient needs particularly when it comes to medicine.”

“We believe that Chefaa’s approach of growth, which is an opportunity to enhance medical literacy through freemium service and employee benefits, is the right way.”

He adds, “(Chefaa) contributes to one of the severe national health problems; a shortage of providing optimum care for chronic patients.”

Real Measurable Growth

Doaa Aref, CEO and Founder of Chefaa, comments on the round “From the start, we focused on empowering Chefaa’s ability to measure the impact of every step it takes.”

“(This comes through) real data, not just for funding but for execution and scaling as well.” 

“I believe this venture round is pivotal not because it will only help us scale our validated business models but because it will help us capitalize on untapped market opportunities.”

“We are confident Chefaa will dominate over a much larger market share in the next two years.”

Russian fintech Companies have recently been struggling with regulatory challenges due to some economic, social, and political factors. The pressure on these fintech companies is increasing especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

What brings some questions to the table, such as will these startups be able to continue operating? And, will these companies help Russia find a way out of the western financial sanctions?

Here is a list of the most innovative fintech companies in Russia, and you can predict which will be impacted and which will get an opportunity.

1. Bistrodengi

Bistrodengi is the leader in the Russian microfinance market. The company provides various financial services via online platforms, as well as through an extensive branch network of 500 offices throughout the Russian Federation. Bistrodengi justifies its lending decisions with effective predictive models based on a large number of innovative data mining methods and technologies. Customers can apply for a loan of up to 1 million rubles (provided in cash or credited to their bank account).

Founded Year: 2008

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Yuri Provkin

Funding Amount: $61.3M

2. Blackmoon Financial Group

Blackmoon is a technology platform that provides Marketplace Lending as a Service (MPLaaS) for balance sheet lenders. MPLaaS enables balance sheet lenders to access institutional funding via a marketplace approach.

Blackmoon integrates with lending companies through proprietary technologies. Enabling asset managers to efficiently select portfolios by utilizing Blackmoon’s platform for analytical modeling, order management, portfolio monitoring, and projecting returns. Our objective is to provide a global MPLaaS platform for Balance Sheet Lenders.

Founded Year: 2015

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Ilya Perekopsky, Oleg Seydak

Funding Amount: $32.5M

Investor(s): A&NN Investments, Target Global, and Flint Capital

3. MoneyMan

MoneyMan is a digital finance company that offers automated payday loan services 24/7. The company concentrates its research and development efforts on developing innovative risk assessment models, big data processing, and developing secure applications for both web and mobile platforms

Founded Year: 2011

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Alexander Dunaev and Boris Batine

Funding Amount: $9M

Investor(s): Emery Capital and Vadim Dymov

4. MILI

MILI is the fastest consumer finance company in Russia.

Its disruptive technology allows MILI to issue loans to active users of social networks, leveraging their social capital. MILI has built unique scoring methods, paying equal attention to both standard information sources and users’ online social capital. The credit decision is made within 5 minutes directly on the website and money is transferred through one of the largest retail chains in Russia (over 5,000 retail posts) – Euroset.

Founded Year: 2012

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): George Belotserkovsky, Grant Alaverdian, Levan Nazarov

Funding Amount: $6.1M

5. B2Broker

B2Broker offers solutions for financial institutions to increase and optimize their workflows and help new brokers to build their business. Our products and services include MT4/MT5 White Label, Forex/Crypto/CFD Liquidity, Forex Broker Turnkey, Cryptocurrency Exchange Turnkey, B2Core (Trader’s Room & Back Office Software), Investment Platform (PAMM, MAM, Social Trading), Cryptocurrency Payment Gateway.

Founded Year: 2014

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Arthur Azizov, Evgeniya Mykulyak

Funding Amount: $5M

6. Double Data

Double Data targets banks and other financial institutions that need to improve their performance for a variety of processes – from customer acquisition and assessment to debt collection. The Double Data software combines Big Data analysis tools, computer-aided learning methods, and data mining.

Founded Year: 2012

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Maxim Ginzhuk, Pavel Shuvalov

Funding Amount: $3.2M

Investor(s): Fastlane Ventures, Simile Venture Partners, and LETA Capital

7. Vdolg

Vdolg.ru “- mutual crediting service in Russia.

P2P service implements the principle: money directly from the lender to the borrower! Borrowers can obtain funds at lower rates than conventional banks, without reference to income and guarantors. Lenders can issue money in debt, choosing one of the investment strategies and earning more than on bank deposits.

Founded Year: 2010

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Anton Tarasov

Funding Amount: $2M

Investor(s): Runa Capital

8. Mandarin 

Mandarin is a payment platform that allows companies to scale their business without growing back-office. We build open APIs that help fintechs, marketplaces, platforms, and other industries automate all types of payment flows and sell more with the help of cutting-edge installment products.

Founded Year: 2016

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Alex Tolstik, Maksim Nekrylov

Funding Amount: $1.9M

9. Dengi Vpered

You worked today. Get paid today. Product for people and HR to empower financial wellness. Get what you already earned. Mobile applications with deep integration into companies’ accounting systems empower both sides with massive pros.

Founded Year: 2019

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Konstantin Stiskin, Pavel Guzhikov

Funding Amount: $1M

Investor(s): Traget Global

10. Pay-Me

Pay-Me is a vendor and mPOS services provider for small- and medium-sized merchants. It enables its users to accept payment cards, including Visa and MasterCard. It is recommended for e-commerce and trade companies, taxi and car services, medium-sized hotels and hostels, insurance agents, and many others.

Founded Year: 2012

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Vladimir Kanin

Funding Amount: $1M

11. BitRussia

BitRussia is a financial ecosystem built with modern technological solutions of a distributed registry, smart contracts, with the possibility of issuing and exercising digital rights (tokens). BitRussia is constantly developing its own infrastructure and a set of pre-built business scenarios that provide users with the opportunity to implement projects in the field of factoring, banking, crowdfunding, insurance, reinsurance, banking, processing, trading, human resources, and management.

It is the only legal investment operator&platform in Russia with embedded DLT and smart contracts. BitRussia is deeply integrated with classic fin-tech industries such as banking and insurance. Present status: official piloting in “sandbox mode” with the Central Bank of Russia.

Founded Year: 2019

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Ivan Rodionov

Funding Amount: $900K

Investor(s): Da Vinci Capital

12. MyWishBoard

MyWishBoard is a crowdfunding, visual savings platform for personal and shared dreams and goals. The platform helps its users collect their desired products, get them funded by friends and family, and achieve personal goals in studying, traveling, and shopping. It is based in Moscow, Russia.

Founded Year: 2012

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Alexander Borodich, Dmitry Amroyan

Funding Amount: $880K

Investor(s): Life.SREDA, IMI.VC

13. GetFinance

GetFinance is a single digital space for all participants in the factoring market: suppliers, buyers, and financing organizations. GetFinance implemented on the basis of advanced fintech solutions in the field of highly loaded information systems, GetFinance has a powerful and functional universal core that allows you to automate complex business factoring processes at all stages: from the initialization of the financing process to the final settlement between participants and transaction accounting. Due to the modern system of remote verification, the platform provides a fully digital three-way format of work, previously inaccessible to the Russian market.

Founded Year: 2019

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Funding Amount: $770K

Investor(s): VTB Bank

14. ArtQuant Ltd

ArtQuant Ltd. provides innovative, tech-based financial and investment solutions.

Founded Year: 2014

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Ilya Filippov, Samit Yakovlev

Funding Amount: $600K

15. Scorista

Scorista – a unique online service for assessing the borrower. With their analytical system to perform a detailed and qualitative assessment of the solvency of the borrower for one minute without any extra costs for you and install additional software. You get a definite answer to “give” loan or “deny”, stating the reasons. They guarantee their expertise. If the result does not suit you, you can not pay.

Founded Year: 2014

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Ivan Tretyakov, Maria Veikhman

Funding Amount: $597K

Investor(s): Starta VC, Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF), Moscow Seed Fund, and Life.SREDA

16. REGA

REGA Risk Sharing is an international software company specialized in blockchain fintech product development. Now we go out of our way to built REGA Platform to reinvent insurance. We have more than 20 years of experience in risk assessment and scoring, developed fintech products for main RU banks, using facial and behavioral scoring, ML, and computer vision.

Founded Year: 2016

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Leonid Morozovskii, Roman Ischenko, Sergei Sevriugin, Sergey Kiselev, Victor Chernyshev

Funding Amount: $507K

Investor(s): AltaIR Capital

17. PayZakat

PayZakat is a unique Islamic FinTech plaform. It’s an AI-based bot platform for personal donations management and organization. The chatbot allows users to select from a wide range of donation types and worldwide organizations.

Founded Year: 2018

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Behnam Gurbanzada

Funding Amount: $159.3K

Investor(s): Sberbank

18. Automatic Finance Complexes

Automatic Finance Complexes is a system that transforms traditional offline finance organizations into automated online microfinance services. AFC creates logistics platforms for highly-loaded financial systems. AFC offers all stages of work for the ICO and creates end-to-end solutions for MFIs, banks, p2p-lending, p2b-lending.

Founded Year: 2014

Location: Skolkovo, Moskva, Russian Federation

Funding Amount: $131K

19. mplace.me

Mplace.me helps financial institutions to start online marketing campaigns immediately, with pre-set access to local financial traffic.

MPLACE is a platform for buying and selling leads in Kazakhstan, which offers advertisers to pay only for targeted user actions – buying, registering, filling out profiles, and so on. It uses a unique technological complex of its own development, which has no analogs in the market. The company’s experience and knowledge in affiliate marketing allow its partners to achieve impressive results.

Founded Year: 2017

Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation

Founder(s): Arthur Mikaelyan, Viacheslav Semenikhin

Funding Amount: $18K

Investor(s): Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF)

20. Barter Card

A system of a multilateral commodity exchange for legal entities that increases the client base saves working capital. Also Known As Sistema mnogostoronnego tovaroobmena Barter-Kard.

Founded Year: 1991

Location: Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russian Federation

Funding Amount: $12K

Investor(s): Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF)

Egyptian Publishing Platform Kotobna has announced its expansion to major convenience stores across Egypt with a 26 location collaboration with On The Run.

Customers at On The Run can now find Kotobna’s roster of publications on display in 26 locations of Egypt’s largest chain of convenience stores, On the Run.

The locations are split between Cairo, Alexandria, and all major highways.

Kotobna, Founded in 2015, is Egypt’s first publishing platform supporting writers across the MENA region with tech-enabled offerings.

This includes self-publishing, book promotion across all print and digital stores, regional and international distribution, and print-on-demand to name a few.

Coffee, Gas, and A Book

Mohammed Gamal, Founder of Kotobna explains “Bookstores are always limited in opening hours, holidays and many other factors that limit the exposure given to print books.”

“We wanted to support our writers and our network of famous publishers in making books more accessible through On The Run.”

“And soon other convenience stores. While getting gas or coffee or a quick snack why not get a book as well.”

Gamal adds that the soft opening of the expansion across 26 locations in Cairo and Alexandria already brought positive feedback from On the Run.

According to him, clients found the displays attractive and were more inclined to browse and purchase books.

Publishing post COVID-19

Kotobna’s push for more reading and ultimately more book deals and sales is an endeavor to counteract the effects of the COVID-19 on the publishing industry.

It has been reported that sales have dropped globally whereas consumption of digital books either slightly increased or remained stagnant for the most.

“Egyptian publishers are still betting on books. Middle Easterners have always been reading more books than, say, the average American.”

“on the contrary to popular opinion, the educated Egyptian reads, not as much as we like them to, but they still do.”

“So we are bringing books closer to them, if you can’t make it to the bookstore, we can bet you will make it to ‘On the Run’ at least once a month.”