Islamic fintech start-up Tabby, which currently operates in the GCC, has expanded its geographical footprint into North Africa, launching in Egypt to offer Shariah compliant point-of-sale financing as well as other payment solutions. VINEETA TAN writes.
The expansion follows several successful funding rounds including the latest one last month for US$150 million from New York’s Atalaya Capital Management and San Francisco-based Partners for Growth. The latest debt funding round brought the firm’s total capital raised to date to US$275 million.
Founded in 2019 by Hosam Arab who co-founded fashion e-commerce marketplace Namshi, the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform has built an active user base of over two million across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and now Egypt. It has onboarded over 4,000 global brands and small businesses including the likes of H&M, Adidas, SHEIN and IKEA. In the first six months of 2022, Tabby said it grew its revenue by 10 times, grew its active customer base by threefold and tripled the number of active retail partners as compared with the first half of 2021, without disclosing exact figures.
Leading Tabby’s operations in Egypt is General Manager Ahmed Khalil, who previously headed Uber’s Egyptian business. “We are excited to provide Egyptians with flexible and honest payment experiences with no interest and no fees,” said Ahmed. “We are also delighted to be a growth partner for our retail partners by helping them tap into millions of active shoppers.”
Certified Shariah compliant by Bahrain-based Shariyah Review Bureau, Tabby is a participant of the Saudi Central Bank’s regulatory sandbox. Its product — split in 4 — allows consumers to split their purchases into four interest-free payments at store checkouts, online and offline. The company launched a payment card in May to support offline transactions. .