Dubai Ziina Raises $22 Million Amid UAE Small Business Growth
Ziina Raises $22 Million to Expand Fintech Services for UAE SMEs
Dubai Ziina Raises $22 Million to Expand Fintech Services for UAE SMEs
Ziina has raised $22 million to provide fintech services to UAE-based small businesses.
In an interview with TechCrunch on Tuesday (Sept. 3), co-founder and CEO Faisal Dugan said there are a few factors that are attracting investors, including the fast-growing small and medium enterprise (SME) segment. United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the company’s newly acquired central bank license.
Ziina originated as a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment app for splitting bills such as group trips or rent, and still offers P2P services.
But the TechCrunch report notes that while the company still offers P2P services, much of its product focus has shifted to SMEs, targeting a “submarket” of 560,000 such businesses, which is nearly 95% of all companies in the UAE.
“We are the all-in-one platform for businesses to get paid in the UAE, evolving from a purely consumer app to an ecosystem that connects consumers and businesses to make payments under one platform,” said Dugan.
“We’re looking at a common experience because consumers can pay businesses, businesses can pay consumers, and then we can create that network effect across two customer segments. That’s one of the key differentiators in our product strategy and business. So basically, everything has to be under one ecosystem, where people finance. Have a reliable partner.
The funding comes weeks after another Dubai-based company, Mamo, announced it had raised $4.3 million in new funding.
“Mamo’s mission is to empower people to manage and grow their money through simple, fast and friendly finance,” the company wrote on LinkedIn. “This newly raised capital will help expand the depth of Mamo’s SME-facing products within the UAE and support regional expansion.”
PYMNTS spoke to Mamo CEO Imad Gharazeddine at PYMNTS 2022 about the rise of P2P payments in the UAE and other countries in the Middle East/North Africa region.
“SMEs are tired of remittances due to operational constraints,” Gharazeddine told PYMNTS. “For example, if you offer products or services, if your customer comes to pay and they don’t have the correct change, you may need to send your driver back and forth a few times.”
Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote earlier this year about the prevalence of “click-and-mortar™ shoppers” in the UAE.
“Also, when surveyed about the quality of their digital shopping features, respondents shared what turned out to be the second highest level of customer satisfaction among the six countries we studied,” PYMNTS wrote. “This explains why 71% of UAE consumers used digital features to enhance their recent shopping experience.”
