Abu Dhabi-based FinTech Nymcard raised $7.6 million in its Series A round led by Shorooq Partners to fuel its growth within the Mena region.
OTF Jasoor Ventures and Venture Souq also participated in the round, the start-up said in a statement on Sunday.
Nymcard focuses on processing transactions and issuing cards, including online cards, on behalf of banks, financial institutions and FinTechs that connect to mobile platforms. It does not compete with payment giants like MasterCard and Visa, but works with them, enabling digital and mobile-first applications to process payments.
“NymCard is solving the problem of card issuance in the region by building a regulated, technological infrastructure that is highly specialised in this area," Mahmoud Adi, founding partner of Shorooq Partners, said.
“It allows the rest of the ecosystem to leverage their technology as a plug-and-play infrastructure to seamlessly build and launch card programmes, democratising card issuance and payments.”
Region-specific figures on card issuances are hard to come by in the Middle East but the adoption of digital payment is on the rise following the pandemic. Almost two-thirds of UAE respondents to a Standard Chartered survey in September expect the country to become fully cashless by 2030.
FinTechs like Nymcard help to accelerate this shift.
"Card issuance and payment processing ... is a tightly controlled, highly regulated, and technologically complicated process and even the largest banks in the region take months to design and issue card programmes," Mr Adi said. "The NymCard technology addresses these issues and enables clients to adapt their models to the new environment efficiently and cost-effectively."
Nymcard, founded by entrepreneur Omar Onsi in Lebanon in 2018, relocated to Abu Dhabi's Hub71 last year. The company has an in-principle approval from Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority, which allows it to hold money, transfer funds and carry out currency exchange transactions, among other tasks. The approval, secured last year, allows the company to work more closely with global players such as Visa, MasterCard and Western Union.
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
