UAE fintech Hubpay , which has launched the first cross border wallet has raised $20 million in Series A round. Hubpay’s cross border digital wallet offers zero-cost remittances. Signal Peak Ventures led the round, its first investment in the Arabian Gulf, joined by Olive Tree Capital and BECO Capital, and supported by early-stage backers Stormbreaker, Emkan Capital and Aditum.
Founded in September 2019 and the first startup to be licensed in the UAE for digital money services in 2020. Hubpay, which has offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Karachi and London, will be using the proceeds to grow the team and expand internationally.
Hubpay is a digital wallet building bespoke, data-driven financial products accessible to everyone in the world’s most challenging markets. As the first startup to obtain a full Category 3c license in the UAE and now holding In Principle Approval for an EMI license in Pakistan, Hubpay has been able to offer a digital solution to customers looking to send money both domestically and internationally at zero cost.
The UAE is the third-largest market for remittances globally, with $47 billion of payments made in 2021. The regional market is vast, with Gulf countries’ remittances exceeding those of the USA, and the majority of these flows going to the fastest growing mobile money markets in the world: India, Pakistan, Philippines, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. The remittance channels provide a direct route to the $3 trillion digital-wallet market across Asia.
Founder and CEO Kevin Kilty remarked: “The fintech market across MENAP is at a turning point. A wave of new digital regulatory regimes has been launched, enabling businesses like Hubpay to offer fully digital solutions to underbanked users. Key eco-system building blocks, such as digital KYC and the ubiquity of smartphones, have created a landscape to drive the largest financial inclusion trends that we’ve seen since Alipay was launched in China”.
