On Monday, UAE-based financial tech startup and digital bank ‘YAP’ announced that it had raised $41 million funding and is further targeting raising another roughly $20 million to finance its expansion plans. The investors so far comprised Saudi Arabia’s Aljazira Capital, Abu Dawood Group, Astra Group, and Audacia Capital. YAP said it plans to complete its Series A by the end of the year.
YAP Will Utilize the Recently Raised Funding for Expansion Purposes
The financial tech startup, YAP will employ the recently raised funding to expand the business into Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, and Ghana, Chief Executive, and co-founder Marwan Hachem said in an interview. “We just got the EMI (electronic money institutions) license in Pakistan and PSP (payment service provider) in Ghana, same thing in Saudi Arabia. Together with the bank, we are going to apply to the central bank,” Hachem said.
YAP was inaugurated in 2021, in partnership with Emirati lender RAK Bank to be the UAE’s first independent digital banking platform. It has partnered with Bank AlJazira in Saudi Arabia, where it will soft-launch in October before going fully live in the first quarter of next year, YAP Managing Director and co-founder Anas Zaidan said. “That’s a very important step for us because we believe Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest markets in the Middle East.”
The Financial Tech Startup Plans to Expand into Pakistan By the End of the Year
The financial tech startup, YAP intends to expand by the end of the year in Pakistan and Ghana, where its services are currently being piloted, and next year in Egypt, the most populated Arab nation. CEO Hachem said YAP would target serving the substantial remittance market of Pakistani workers employed in the Gulf who send billions of dollars to home each year. YAP has so far signed up more than 130,000 users to its app, the digital bank said.
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