Cairo-headquartered fintech platform Paymob has closed a $35 million pre-Series C funding round to accelerate its geographic expansion across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and advance its product roadmap for agentic commerce.
The investment was co-led by Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala Investment Company and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Existing and new institutional backers, including British International Investment (BII), Global Ventures, and DPI Ventures, also participated in the round.
The transaction brings Paymob’s total disclosed funding to over $125 million, following a $50 million Series B in 2022 and a $22 million Series B extension in 2024.
Solving Payment Fragmentation Across MENA
Founded in 2015 by Islam Shawky, Alain El Hajj, and Mostafa El Menessy, Paymob provides an omnichannel payment acceptance gateway designed to streamline digital commerce for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as enterprise merchants.
Merchants operating across North Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) face a highly fragmented payments landscape characterized by localized card schemes, digital wallets, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platforms, and bank installment options. Integrating these payment methods traditionally requires managing multiple commercial contracts, technical integrations, and settlement dashboards.
Paymob eliminates this complexity by unifying over 60 payment methods under a single API integration, one commercial agreement, and a centralized management dashboard. The platform currently powers payment acceptance for nearly 400,000 merchant sites across Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Oman.
Regional Growth and GCC Market Traction
The pre-Series C injection follows rapid top-line growth across Paymob’s core operating markets over the past 18 months. Consolidated revenue tripled during this period, while revenue generated from the GCC region expanded sevenfold, accounting for nearly half of the company’s total revenue.
Growth in the Gulf market accelerated after the company secured its Retail Payment Services Licence from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) in January 2025. Since receiving regulatory authorization, Paymob has onboarded approximately 20,000 merchants across its GCC corridors.
Islam Shawky, co-founder and CEO of Paymob, noted that the platform’s pivot into a regional payments powerhouse has been propelled by rapid GCC adoption. He emphasized that the fresh capital will be deployed to scale merchant acquisition across the MENA region, enhance financial tools for SMEs, and fast-track development of payment infrastructure built for AI-driven agentic commerce.
Institutional Backing and Strategic Objectives
Ali Eid Al Mheiri, Executive Director of UAE Diversified Assets at Mubadala’s UAE Investments Platform, stated that backing Paymob aligns with Mubadala’s broader strategy under its MENA Venture Capital Fund to support technology infrastructure that drives regional economic diversification and financial inclusion.
Paymob’s wider cap table includes prominent international and regional venture investors, such as PayPal Ventures, Kora Capital, Clay Point Capital, FMO, A15, Helios Digital Ventures, Global Ventures, and DPI Ventures.
With new capital secured, Paymob aims to consolidate its position as a primary digital infrastructure layer connecting merchants, financial institutions, and digital consumers across North Africa and the Gulf.
