Paymob, an omni-channel payments facilitator based in Cairo, recently opened an office in Riyadh in April of this year. This expansion has now been followed by Paymob’s acquisition of the Payment Technical Service Provider (PTSP) certification in Saudi Arabia in May, enabling the company to operate fully in the Kingdom.
Paymob operates as a payments facilitator in the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENAP) region, employing a team of 1,400 professionals across the markets it serves. Through its omnichannel gateway, Paymob offers more than 40 payment methods, empowering over 200,000 SME merchants to effectively manage and expand their businesses. These merchants gain access to innovative financial services that are typically scarce in emerging markets.
In a statement, Islam Shawky, the co-founder and CEO of Paymob, expressed the significance of obtaining the PTSP certification in Saudi Arabia. He emphasized that this achievement allows Paymob to provide seamless and secure payment gateway services to merchants in the Kingdom. Shawky also highlighted Paymob’s commitment to its expansion plans in Saudi Arabia, aiming to support the growth of merchants and entrepreneurs by offering cutting-edge financial technology solutions. Paymob is excited to contribute to the emerging fintech ecosystem in Saudi Arabia and play a role in the country’s digital transformation outlined in Vision 2030.
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Since its establishment in Egypt in 2015, Paymob has expanded its operations to Pakistan in 2021 and the UAE in 2022. The company has garnered support from both regional and global investors, including PayPal Ventures, Kora Capital, Clay Point Capital, Global Ventures, FMO, A15, and Nclude. Paymob’s decision to establish an office in Riyadh aligns with Saudi Arabia’s goals of increasing the contribution of SMEs to its gross domestic product from 20% to 35% and achieving a 70% non-cash transaction rate by 2030. With the Kingdom experiencing rapid e-commerce growth, witnessing a year-on-year transaction increase of 65%, Paymob recognizes the tremendous market opportunity for its localized digital payment solutions.
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Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard