SimpliFi, a Dubai-based financial technology start-up, secured $5.1 million in new funding that it plans to use to expand across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan region.
The cards-as-a-service platform, which also has an office in Riyadh, raised the investment from Saudi-based Raed Ventures and US-based Global Founders Capital, 4DX Ventures and Rally Cap Ventures. Raed and Rally Cap had participated in a seed round earlier this year, which raised an undisclosed amount.
The start-up manages all ecosystem partners required to issue cards including banks, card schemes, processors, identity verification, card fulfilment and customer care to deliver a seamless experience across several markets.
“We were overwhelmed yet humbled by the response we got after we launched in August. It was only then that we realised that the opportunity was substantially bigger than what we had originally anticipated, which emboldened us to double down and accelerate our expansion across the region,” Ali Sattar, founder and chief executive of SimpliFi, said on Monday.
Start-ups in the region continue to attract investments, with the fourth quarter of 2021 particularly busy, especially for transactions involving the UAE sphere.
Last week, Abu Dhabi Global Market and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation launched a programme to support women-led Mena start-ups, while Indian cloud services provider G7CR Technologies announced plans to invest up to $30m to support MEA and India start-ups.
Accelerator programmes are also expanding their reach. Earlier this month, Aldar, the UAE's biggest listed property company, launched the second cycle of its Scale Up accelerator programme, while technology company Google is currently underway with the third edition of its initiative to help budding companies speed up their development.
Mena start-ups received $1.2bn in funding during the first half of 2021, surpassing the amount raised in the whole of 2020, data platform Magnitt reported earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the global payments industry is set to return to its long-term growth trajectory after posting its first contraction in 11 years in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, said management consultancy McKinsey & Company's annual sector report.
The sector's revenue fell 5 per cent on the year to $1.9 trillion in 2020, but those losses will be recouped this year, bringing revenue back into the range of 2019's record high, it added.
SimpliFi launched its beta version in August and said it received strong interest from regional organisations that want to issue cards to fulfil business needs and offer card products to small and medium enterprises and consumers. This resulted in the signing of a number of partnerships with banks, processors and other providers.
The company's team is backed by people with experience from ride-hailing services Careem, Grab, Gojek and Uber, payments companies PayPal, Marqeta, Mastercard and Network International, and Facebook.
We realised that the opportunity was substantially bigger than what we had originally anticipated, which emboldened us to double down and accelerate our expansion across the region
Ali Sattar,
founder and chief executive of SimpliFi
“We see growing demand for card issuance in the region and are excited to continue to back SimpliFi as it expands its presence across the region,” said Wael Nafee, partner at Raed Ventures.
SimpliFi was founded in 2020 by Mr Sattar, who is the former head of Careem Pay. He had previously said that the company wants to remove the underlying complexities and hassles of card issuance.
In addition to providing a purpose-built tech stack, SimpliFi manages day-to-day card operations and compliance functions so businesses can focus on their core strengths while leveraging the capabilities and scale of SimpliFi.
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Match info
Deccan Gladiators 87-8
Asif Khan 25, Dwayne Bravo 2-16
Maratha Arabians 89-2
Chadwick Walton 51 not out
Arabians won the final by eight wickets
Apple%20Mac%20through%20the%20years
%3Cp%3E1984%20-%20Apple%20unveiled%20the%20Macintosh%20on%20January%2024%3Cbr%3E1985%20-%20Steve%20Jobs%20departed%20from%20Apple%20and%20established%20NeXT%3Cbr%3E1986%20-%20Apple%20introduced%20the%20Macintosh%20Plus%2C%20featuring%20enhanced%20memory%3Cbr%3E1987%20-%20Apple%20launched%20the%20Macintosh%20II%2C%20equipped%20with%20colour%20capabilities%3Cbr%3E1989%20-%20The%20widely%20acclaimed%20Macintosh%20SE%2F30%20made%20its%20debut%3Cbr%3E1994%20-%20Apple%20presented%20the%20Power%20Macintosh%3Cbr%3E1996%20-%20The%20Macintosh%20System%20Software%20OS%20underwent%20a%20rebranding%20as%20Mac%20OS%3Cbr%3E2001%20-%20Apple%20introduced%20Mac%20OS%20X%2C%20marrying%20Unix%20stability%20with%20a%20user-friendly%20interface%3Cbr%3E2006%20-%20Apple%20adopted%20Intel%20processors%20in%20MacBook%20Pro%20laptops%3Cbr%3E2008%20-%20Apple%20introduced%20the%20MacBook%20Air%2C%20a%20lightweight%20laptop%3Cbr%3E2012%20-%20Apple%20launched%20the%20MacBook%20Pro%20with%20a%20retina%20display%3Cbr%3E2016%20-%20The%20Mac%20operating%20system%20underwent%20rebranding%20as%20macOS%3Cbr%3E2020%20-%20Apple%20introduced%20the%20M1%20chip%20for%20Macs%2C%20combining%20high%20performance%20and%20energy%20efficiency%3Cbr%3E2022%20-%20The%20M2%20chip%20was%20announced%3Cbr%3E2023%20-The%20M3%20line-up%20of%20chip%20was%20announced%20to%20improve%20performance%20and%20add%20new%20capabilities%20for%20Mac.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
More on Quran memorisation:
More on Quran memorisation:
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.3-litre%20turbo%204-cyl%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10-speed%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E298hp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E452Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETowing%20capacity%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.4-tonne%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPayload%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4WD%20%E2%80%93%20776kg%3B%20Rear-wheel%20drive%20819kg%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPrice%3A%20Dh138%2C945%20(XLT)%20Dh193%2C095%20(Wildtrak)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDelivery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20from%20August%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
