MENA Startups
Leading Payment Orchestration Platform MoneyHash Raises $5.2 Pre-A Funding
MoneyHash, the first and leading payment orchestration platform operating in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), has secured $5.2M in pre-A funding. Flourish Ventures – a global fintech investor behind industry leaders like Chime, Flutterwave, FairMoney, and Neon – led the round, adding to its portfolio of over 100 fintech startups. Additional investors include Saudi’s Vision Ventures, Arab Bank’s Xelerate, and Emurgo Kepple Ventures. The round features the participation of Jason Gardner, founder and former CEO of Marqeta, as his first MEA investment. The round also saw continued support from existing investors COTU, RZM Investment, and Github founder Tom Preston-Werner.
Building on its momentum, MoneyHash previously secured a $4.5M seed round in early 2024, which fueled technological advancements and regional expansion initiatives. The swift progression to this pre-A round within 12 months underscores the company’s exceptional growth trajectory, validated by its successful partnerships with prominent brands and remarkable performance metrics across both regional and global markets.
Payments are Complex in Emerging Markets
The payments landscape in emerging markets is plagued with poor performance metrics and operational challenges. Each market has its own complex web of payment providers, methods, and regulations, with limited standardization or integration between regions. This fragmentation results in high operational costs, revenue leakage, and limited ability to scale across markets.
“In emerging markets, payment infrastructure remains significantly underdeveloped, with failure rates three times the global average and fraud rates and cart abandonment over 20% higher than developed markets. Drawing from our extensive experience in MEA, one of the most challenging regions globally, we’ve seen firsthand how these issues transform payments from a growth enabler into a cost and risk center,” says Nader Abdelrazik, co-founder and CEO of MoneyHash.
Abdelrazik adds, “The opportunity to solve this is immense. In emerging markets, digital payments represent only a fraction of total transaction volume, suggesting massive growth potential in the coming decade. We’ve built MoneyHash specifically to help merchants overcome these complex challenges and turn payments from a liability into a strategic advantage.”
MoneyHash: Powerful Software for a Superior Payment Performance
MoneyHash offers a comprehensive payment operating system built for emerging markets, transforming existing payment setups into high-performance engines. Maram Alikaj, Chief Operating Officer of MoneyHash and former payment leader at Block (formerly Square), emphasizes, “We’ve built our product with a deep understanding of emerging markets’ unique challenges. Rather than letting merchants struggle with fragmented solutions, we provide a unified suite that elevates all payment performance metrics.”
The platform seamlessly integrates with merchants’ existing payment providers while delivering powerful capabilities: a unified API for pay-in and pay-out operations, a fully customizable checkout experience, sophisticated transaction routing with built-in fraud prevention and failure rate optimization, and comprehensive reporting tools. This core offering is enhanced by features like recurring payments, virtual wallets, subscription management, and payment links.
Alikaj adds, “What sets us apart is our focus on emerging markets combined with our unparalleled integration network. With over 300 pre-integrated APIs of payment service providers and methods across 100+ markets, we’re not just solving today’s challenges—we’re future-proofing payment operations for our merchants. This extensive coverage, paired with our specialized feature set for emerging markets, ensures that businesses can confidently scale their payment operations while maintaining superior performance metrics.”
MoneyHash’s product promises a 10–20% increase in revenue generation and a 90% decrease in go-to-market and development costs.
MoneyHash Progress & Future Plans
Founded in early 2021 by Nader Abdelrazik and Mustafa Eid, MoneyHash emerged from the vision of two distinguished Egyptian technologists, leveraging their extensive expertise in fintech and enterprise software development. Following the successful deployment of their enterprise suite in early 2024, the company rapidly established itself as a preferred solution among premier regional organizations. Notable adopters include Tamara, Saudi Arabia’s inaugural unicorn and preeminent fintech player; Kitopi, the distinguished unicorn revolutionizing cloud kitchen operations; and Brands For Less, a significant force in global e-commerce. The company’s strategic focus on large enterprise clients has yielded remarkable results, with this segment now constituting over 35% of MoneyHash’s client portfolio—representing a threefold expansion in 2024. This strategic positioning has catalyzed exceptional growth, resulting in a 4x increase in processing volume throughout 2024.
Ameya Upadhyay, Venture Partner at Flourish Ventures, will be joining MoneyHash’s board of directors. He emphasizes, “MoneyHash has built a must-have product for enterprises that delivers better payment performance and higher margins from day one. As early-stage investors with a large EM-focused payment portfolio, we have first-hand experience of the massive scale of the opportunity. The team’s deep payment experience and obsessive customer focus positions them to emerge as a leader across Emerging Markets, starting with MEA. We are privileged to be part of the journey.”
“Strengthening our capital table capabilities is as crucial as enhancing our business and product offerings,” explains Abdelrazik. “In our early years, we strategically focused on partnering with strong regional investors to accelerate our market penetration. Now, with Flourish Ventures joining us, we’re establishing a solid foundation for global expansion. Having such a fintech well-seasoned, globally recognized fund as our partner is particularly crucial for our next phase of growth.” MoneyHash, with its headquarters in New York City and a diverse workforce of 30 professionals distributed across nine countries, has previously secured $7.5M in total funding through two previous investment rounds. The newly acquired capital will be strategically deployed to accelerate MoneyHash’s market penetration in the MEA region while laying the groundwork for strategic expansion into additional emerging markets.
About Flourish Ventures
With $850M under management, Flourish Ventures is an early-stage global fintech venture capital firm that backs bold entrepreneurs building companies to disrupt legacy structures and shape financial systems for the better. Flourish’s portfolio includes leading African fintechs such as Apollo, FairMoney, Flutterwave, MaxAB, Paga, and Pula, as well as global fintechs Chime, Kin, Indifi, M2P, Neon, Hummingbird, Qoala, ShopUp, Swap, and Unit, among other high-growth companies. Flourish also brings together networks of entrepreneurs, ecosystem innovators, trailblazers, and industry experts to help create systemic change.
About MoneyHash
MoneyHash is the first and leading payment orchestration platform in Africa and the Middle East, offering a comprehensive solution for merchants to simplify and optimize their payment processes. With a single integration, MoneyHash consolidates multiple payment APIs and provides advanced routing and optimization capabilities. This allows merchants to choose the best payment providers, reduce transaction failures, and improve authorization rates. The platform supports a wide range of payment methods and offers robust security features, making it easier for businesses to scale their payment infrastructure efficiently.
MENA Startups
UAE-Based FinTech Company Al Ansari Exchange Tests Voice AI in Mobile App and Explores Agentic AI to Enhance Financial Services
The initiative forms part of Al Ansari Financial Services’ broader commitment to Dubai’s private sector transformation programme.
Al Ansari Exchange, a subsidiary of Al Ansari Financial Services PJSC (“The Group”) (DFM: ALANSARI), is testing artificial intelligence in its mobile app and exploring its use, as Dubai presses businesses to adopt more autonomous AI systems.
The initiatives are part of Al Ansari Financial Services’ participation in a Dubai government programme under which 11 Dubai-based companies pledged to integrate agentic AI into their operations with the support of Dubai Chambers.
Al Ansari Financial Services is assessing how AI could accelerate internal processes, such as compliance functions, in line with international best practices while meeting regulatory requirements and delivering a seamless, frictionless customer experience.
The group works with federal and local government entities, including the Central Bank of the UAE and Dubai’s Department of Finance, to support the transition towards a cashless economy.
“Our work with voice AI is a stepping stone towards more advanced applications, including agentic AI,” said Rashed A. Al Ansari, Group CEO of Al Ansari Financial Services. “AI will play an increasingly important role in customer service and internal processes. Our priority is to develop reliable, scalable solutions suited to a regulated financial business.”
“We work closely with the relevant UAE authorities to support national priorities and implement regulatory requirements across our operations. Guided by their leadership, we focus on delivering reliable financial services that meet customers’ needs,” Al Ansari added.
Ali Al Najjar, Chief Executive Officer of Al Ansari Exchange, said: “We have implemented voice AI in our app to help customers navigate services and complete routine tasks more easily. Our operational focus is on accuracy, clear guidance and access to our customer service team whenever personal assistance is needed.”
The AI work builds on a digital base the company has been expanding as Dubai moves away from cash. Digital channels accounted for 27% of total value of remittances at Al Ansari Exchange in 2025, up from 23% in 2024. A growing share of customer activity on digital channels widens the scope for tools such as the voice feature now in its app.
That shift mirrors the emirate’s wider progress. Dubai Finance said on October 9 that Dubai’s cashless transactions index reached 90.1%, passing the 90% target set for 2026 under the Dubai Cashless Strategy launched in October 2024.
The strategy’s final report credited partnerships among government entities, financial institutions and payment providers, and said cashless payment initiatives had contributed more than AED 8 billion to the emirate’s economy.
MENA Startups
Saudi-based AI Startup Cycls Launches Specialized AI Agents to Automate Business Tasks and Support Local Market Needs
to help individuals and businesses across Saudi Arabia streamline daily operations and accomplish tasks more efficiently.
Cycls, a Saudi AI platform, has introduced a team of specialized AI agents designed to help individuals and businesses across Saudi Arabia streamline daily operations and accomplish tasks more efficiently.
AI no longer just answers questions and makes suggestions. It now executes complete tasks: researching, gathering information, analyzing, and delivering ready-to-use outputs. This is where
Cycls offers an experience that goes beyond traditional AI conversation. Instead of just receiving an answer, users can assign agents multi-step tasks: researching, browsing, analyzing, organizing information, and preparing final outputs.
Founded in 2021 by engineers Mohammed Alrujayi and Mohammed Alogayyil, Cycls has delivered specialized AI projects for government, private, and non-profit sectors. This experience now powers a growing family of intelligent agents built for diverse needs, with deep understanding of the Saudi context and local market requirements.
Cycls has also built sovereign cloud infrastructure within Saudi Arabia, giving individuals and organizations direct access to AI with models and data hosted inside the Kingdom.
Super: Get any work done
Super is the versatile agent you can rely on for diverse tasks requiring research, browsing, analysis, and file creation.
For example, a founder might ask Super to prepare a preliminary study for a new market. The agent searches for relevant information, gathers and compares data, then organizes findings into a report or presentation that helps the founder understand the market and make informed decisions. Super also handles files, analyzes data, and prepares documents, presentations, and dashboards, while connecting to supported systems and data sources, allowing users to complete multiple stages of work through a single experience.
The experience extends beyond the current task: Cycls saves and organizes information within workspaces, making it accessible and reusable for future tasks.
Haseef: An expert in Saudi law
Legal work can be slow. Reviewing a contract or researching a statute often means navigating multiple laws, regulations, and official sources. This is where Haseef comes in, the AI agent specializing in Saudi law, helping users research legislation, regulations, decisions, and judicial precedents, understand legal texts, and draft and review documents.
A business owner might upload a commercial contract and ask which clauses deserve closer attention or what legal requirements apply to a particular provision. Haseef can analyze the wording, explain the points that warrant review, and refer the user to relevant legal sources.
It also drafts contracts, agreements, policies, and legal memoranda, organizing associated information and references, serving as a support tool for professionals and individuals alike, while professional review remains essential depending on the matter.
Badee: A full-service marketing agency
From concept to content, design, and distribution, Badee combines the full range of marketing and creative tasks in a single intelligent agent, delivering an experience that mirrors working with a complete marketing agency.
A brand owner might ask Badee to prepare a campaign for a new product launch. The agent begins by understanding the product and target audience, then helps develop the creative concept and marketing messages, writes content, and prepares designs, images, and materials suited for different platforms. Its capabilities extend beyond content creation to include campaign planning, influencer recommendations, organizing marketing materials, and preparing and executing content for publication across supported channels.
Badee also creates, edits, and enhances images, with careful attention to Arabic language and Saudi cultural context, helping brands and content creators move from idea to execution within a seamless experience.
Namaa: Your agent for the Saudi stock market
Financial markets move constantly, and the information investors need is scattered across prices, technical indicators, company announcements, financial statements, and reports. Namaa, the agent specializing in the Saudi stock market, helps gather, analyze, and present this information in a clearer, more accessible form.
A user might ask for a comparison of two listed companies over a specific period. Namaa analyzes available financial data, compares revenues, profits, and relevant indicators, then organizes findings into a report that clarifies the differences. It also provides analysis of stock movements and technical indicators, tracks company announcements and news, and covers data from both the Main Market and the Parallel Market (Nomu).
Namaa helps users understand financial information and market trends, without replacing independent investment judgment or specialized financial advice.
Cycls on the go
The Cycls app, on the App Store and Google Play, lets users start tasks, pick up where they left off, and check progress on the go, while agents keep working in the background.
Sabtiah: Saudi Arabia’s largest AI community
Every Saturday, developers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and AI enthusiasts gather at Cycls’ headquarters in Riyadh for Saudi Arabia’s largest dedicated AI community. Named after the day it meets, following the Arab tradition of weekly gatherings, Sabtiah is a space to share knowledge, discuss the latest developments, showcase new projects and ideas, and build relationships across the field. Conversations continue long after each session, with members exchanging opportunities and expertise throughout the week, deepening Cycls’ role in growing the Saudi AI community.
Saudi AI, beyond answers
Cycls brings together a family of specialized agents with one goal: turning AI from a tool for passing answers into a tool for real accomplishment.
As the company develops its platform and expands its range of agents, its focus remains on the practical needs of individuals and businesses. That means understanding the laws, markets, language, and culture that shape their work.
MENA Startups
UAE-Based AdTech Startup JustAd Secures $5M Investment to Expand AI-Powered Advertising Platform Into New Markets
Dubai-based JustAd has secured $5 million from angel investor Emad Juma to support its international expansion and develop its AI-powered advertising platform, which combines campaign management, analytics and flexible advertising financing.
JustAd operates a unified advertising platform that enables businesses to plan, launch, monitor and optimize campaigns across major digital networks, including Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Google Ads. Its technology combines AI-powered campaign analytics, return-on-investment tracking, product catalogue integrations and consolidated reporting, allowing advertisers to manage multiple channels through a single interface.
The company has also developed an advertising financing model called Advertise Now, Pay Later (ANPL), which enables businesses to launch campaigns immediately while spreading advertising payments over installments of up to 12 months. The model is designed to address cash flow challenges faced by small and medium-sized advertisers, allowing them to maintain marketing activities without paying their full advertising budgets upfront.
JustAd Secures $5M to Accelerate International Expansion
The $5 million investment from Emad Juma will support JustAd’s expansion beyond its established markets in the MENA region. The company plans to establish local sales and customer support teams in its target markets while adapting its products to meet different business requirements and strengthening partnerships with major global advertising platforms.
As part of its expansion strategy, JustAd intends to enhance its AI-powered advertising technology and develop additional capabilities tailored to local market needs. The company expects to begin onboarding customers in its new markets in early 2027, although it has not disclosed the specific countries included in its initial expansion plans.
The investment will also support the company’s efforts to position its platform as an integrated solution for businesses seeking to manage advertising operations, monitor campaign performance and access financing through a single digital ecosystem.
AI-Powered Platform Integrates Advertising Management and Analytics
JustAd’s platform brings together campaign planning, execution and performance measurement across multiple advertising networks. By integrating Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Google Ads, the company enables advertisers to coordinate their digital marketing activities without switching between separate platforms.
The system uses AI-powered analytics to help businesses evaluate campaign performance, track advertising returns and identify opportunities for optimization. It also includes product catalogue integrations and unified reporting tools, providing advertisers with a consolidated view of campaign results across different channels.
This approach is designed to simplify advertising operations for businesses managing campaigns across several platforms, while helping marketing teams make decisions based on performance data. By combining campaign management and analytics, JustAd aims to reduce operational complexity and improve visibility into advertising expenditure.
Advertise Now, Pay Later Offers Flexible Financing for SMEs
One of JustAd’s core products is its Advertise Now, Pay Later model, which allows businesses to run advertising campaigns immediately and pay their advertising budgets in installments over periods of up to 12 months.
The financing solution targets cash flow challenges that can limit advertising activity among small and medium-sized businesses. Rather than requiring advertisers to cover their entire campaign budgets upfront, the model provides a payment structure intended to help companies maintain campaigns while managing their available working capital.
JustAd delivers the service through approved advertising accounts managed by authorized agencies, alongside direct technical support for customers using major digital advertising platforms. The arrangement combines advertising account management, campaign execution and financing within the company’s broader technology offering.
By integrating ANPL with its advertising management and analytics tools, JustAd is developing a model that connects advertising technology with financial services. The company positions this combination as a specialized FinTech solution for the advertising industry, bringing campaign management, performance measurement and advertising financing into one platform.
JustAd Targets New Markets in Early 2027
Following the investment, JustAd plans to expand its operations by building local commercial and customer support teams, developing market-specific products and strengthening relationships with global advertising networks.
The company expects to start accepting customers in its new markets in early 2027, marking the next stage of its growth strategy beyond MENA. Its expansion will focus on making its integrated advertising platform accessible to businesses seeking centralized campaign management and more flexible advertising payment options.
With $5 million in new funding, JustAd aims to scale its AI-powered marketing infrastructure while extending its Advertise Now, Pay Later offering to additional markets. The investment supports the company’s broader strategy of combining advertising operations, analytics and financing to address the needs of businesses managing digital marketing campaigns.
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