CAIRO: UAE-based fintech startup Qashio raised $10 million in a seed funding round using equity and non-equity investments to accelerate expansion in Saudi Arabia.
Established in 2021, the company enables businesses to gain complete visibility and control over their expenses through its expense management platform. Furthermore, it claims to be the first fintech company in the UAE to issue a Corporate Employee Card.
“Saudi Arabia is making great efforts to align with its Vision 2030 by adopting a fintech-friendly approach and bringing more fintech firms to the market. At Cashio, we are proud to be an integral part of driving forward a cashless society in the UAE and now Saudi Arabia.
The company already serves customers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, but will use its acquisition funds to accelerate further customer acquisition and market presence in the Kingdom.
“This round of funding will help us expand recruitment and development in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the GCC, and accelerate the execution of the product roadmap. We are excited for the days ahead,” chief product officer and co-founder Jonathan Lau said in a statement.
The round saw participation from venture capitalists One Way Ventures, MITAA, Cadorna Ventures, Sanabil 500 MENA, Nuva Capital, Iliad Partners and Phoenix Investments.
data is the new oil
Saudi Arabia-based data platform Datalexing has raised $3 million in seed funding round led by Saadu Capital with participation from Impact46 and other investors.
Founded in 2018 by Rayan Al-Fahid and Abdulleh Al-Ganas, the company offers organizations and individuals access to data without relying on technical personnel and by gathering insights, apps, notifications, forms and sheets in one place.
“The link between data and centralized reporting usually goes through a variety of applications, platforms, data engineers and multiple integrations. Timely and even questionable,” Salem Washili, managing director at Sadoo Capital, said in a statement. Wastes time and effort of business users to generate a report with accuracy.”
He further explained that DataLexing managed to bridge the gap for customers locally and globally by creating a hassle free solution.
The company plans to use its funding round to expand to Gulf Cooperation countries and further develop its product.
educating youth
Saudi Arabian educational technology firm Zeal has secured $1.1 million in seed funding round led by Egypt-based venture capital firm Adventures.
Founded in 2020 by Ahmed Sobaih, the company educates pre-schoolers through its Edutainment platform, which includes learning materials curated by psychologists and educators.
EdVentures provides incubation, acceleration and investment programs for startups to fuel the Ed Tech sector, which hosts over 1,500 companies in the Middle East and North Africa.
Full Spectrum of Pharmaceuticals
Egypt-based B2B marketplace Grinta has raised $8 million in a seed funding round co-led by Rad Ventures and Include, along with Endeavor Catalyst and 500 Global.
Founded in 2021 by Mohd Azab, Yosra Badr, Ali Yusuf and Hamza Mohd, Grinta offers a complete range of pharmaceutical and medical products from sellers through its B2B platform.
Ajab, CEO of Grinta, said in a statement, “As we plan to expand our footprint in the main pharma hubs on the continent, we will also enable Egyptian and regional pharma manufacturers to enter the $50 billion African market will build.”
Fastfact
• Saudi Arabian educational technology firm Zeal has secured $1.1 million in seed funding round led by Egypt-based venture capital firm Adventures.
• Egypt-based B2B marketplace Grinta raises $8 million in seed funding round co-led by Endeavor Catalyst and 500 Global, along with Red Ventures and Enclude.
The company plans to use the funds to grow its market presence in Egypt and enhance its technology platform and expand its team.
Since its inception, Grinta is present in seven governorates in Egypt with over 14,000 registered pharmacies, 20,000 product offerings and over 100,000 delivered orders.
a phoenix star
UAE-based gaming platform Fenix Games secures $150 million investment mega-round led by Phoenix Group and Cypher Capital.
The company, founded this year, aims to promote the blockchain game in the region by acquiring, investing in and building the publishing platform of the future.
The company believes that blockchain gaming is moving towards consolidation, where large corporations will acquire and invest in strong startups.
“We plan to acquire, invest in, publish and operate select case games and studios. We have certain opportunities to execute our strategy,” said Chris Ko, CEO and co-founder of Fenix Games, in a statement. There will be a hundred million.”
He added that the company is tackling a structural gap by redefining publishing clusters with new and innovative functionality to leverage traditional publishing.
Fenix Games aims to leverage its team’s skills in publishing and product management to provide publishing services to all game models, including premium, free-to-play and blockchain gaming across all platforms.
“The infrastructure, tools and support just don’t exist. We believe there is an opportunity for publishing to grow its role in the gaming ecosystem,” Ko said.