5 Fintech Apps in The UAE

The fintech market in the Middle Eastern region has been speedily growing over the past five years. The interest developed in people and the fintech opportunities that the region has been offering have been quite revolutionary compared to other provinces around the world. According to a new study launched by the Mena Research partners, the fintech sector would attract an investment of over $2.5 billion in deals by the end of 2022. The spectacular infrastructure and opportunity that it provides will host over 255 startups by the end of 2022. The landscape of the fintech industry in the UAE has radically changed over the past six years and has been an ever-evolving sector to date. 

Here are a few fintech apps that have stirred up waves in the market in the UAE: 

Tabby 

Dubai-based fintech startup founded in 2019 has since built its user base not only in Dubai but also in Saudi Arabia and prominent parts of the UAE. It offers the flexibility of both online and offline purchases, which would be paid up either through a single deferred installment or multiple installments. The buy-now-pay-later fintech has teamed up with various retailers to allow their consumers the facility to defer paying for their purchases for up to 30 days or make payments within four months in equal installments at zero cost. The users can avail of its services for over 500 merchants. In its Series A funding, Tabby successfully raised $23 million in 2020 and thereafter also announced a partnership with Visa, joined the Saudi Arabian Central Bank’s regulatory sandbox for FinTech firms, and additionally raised $7 million. This app is available both on iOS and Android. 

MamoPay 

Mamopay was established by former Google employees in the year 2019 with a focus on building it as a peer-to-peer (P2P) payments app operating in the Middle Eastern region. Canceling all the involved hassles, this app allows its users to make requisite payments or transfer amounts by entering the recipient’s phone number and email address only. This initiation through technology has not only made transactions simpler but also helped in avoiding all the shortcomings that could be faced when doing a bank transaction in person. After raising funds from multiple investors and global companies, Mamopay went live after raising around $1.5 million. As people found a lot of relevance in the user-friendly system of the app, it has gained a lot of positive feedback from its users. 

MyFatoorah 

Established in the year 2016, My Fatoorah was first launched in Kuwait as a peer-to-peer transaction system. Thereafter, it has spread its reach and now has full-fledged operations continuing in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, and Egypt. The Founder and Managing Partner Abdullah al Dabbous has earlier stated that till the year 2022, it has processed transactions amounting to $1.7 million and has reached over 160,000 downloads. It is available on both Android and iOS platforms and has over 40,000 active users. Such P2P payment solutions have simplified the essence of monetary transactions among users. 

LuLu Money 

Founded in 2017, LuLu Money is a remittance and money transfer app that aims to simplify the modes of transferring and transacting money between its users. It also allows WPS as salary cards for remittances and has also launched its first-ever payroll management card called “My Pay My Card” in association with the First Abu Dhabi Bank. This will enable the users to make transfers and receive payments without having to enter any bank account details. The app has successfully launched its e-wallets for expats from the Philippines. LuLu Money has successfully been downloaded around 890,000 times and has processed over 8,25,000 transactions worth $730 million to date. 

Pay Tabs 

Founded by Abdulaziz Fahad Al Jouf in 2017, Pay Tabs is a business-to-business payments solution provider in Saudi Arabia that provides simplified payment solutions to online businesses and some innovative and new-age features such as business manager dashboards and e-invoices. The app focuses on simplifying the system for such entrepreneurs who are required to travel quite often or have issues with time constraints. It allows access to the business owner from any part of the world and allows him to transact or receive money in a more hassle-free manner. Pay Tabs ranked 9th in the Forbes list of “The Middle East’s Most Funded Startup,” as it raised $27 million in funding in 2020. It has had over 900 downloads and has successfully processed around $577.8 million worth of transactions. 

Research shows that the UAE is the hub of over 50% of the fintech startups in the MENA region, considering the opportunities and flexibility it provides. The authorities are surely making more diligent efforts to create a regulated environment to protect users from cyber crimes and also promote such industries.