PayMate Aims to Expand in the Middle East and North Africa

PayMate, India’s emerging payment company, has decided to broaden its presence in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Its CEO, Ajay Adiseshann, said that the company would invest 3 million USD in the Middle East by 2021. It should be noted that PayMate has already started an office in Dubai earlier this year and it should be starting rendering service from January 2020.

Ajay Adiseshann said to a local News Paper, “The investment will be made in the next 18 to 24 months in hiring new talent, data localization and developing customized business solutions for this region.”

This would be the company’s first strategic movement out of India after it got 25 million USD funding from investors like Recruit Strategic Partners, Brand Capital, Mayfair 101, and Visa this year.

Adiseshann added, “We will go live with six-to-seven big customers in the UAE that might also have cross-border requirements across the GCC.”

As far as PayMate’s vision is concerned, it would initially start with Saudi Arabia. As per the CEO, Saudi Arabia has more potential for PayMate than UAE and he plans to show presence in the whole of the Middle East and some parts of North Africa in the next couple of years.

As per Industry research, the number of payment cards in the Middle East and Africa is likely to rise to 910 million by 2021 from 611 million in 2015. As PayMate is currently facilitating commercial cards for both payables and receivables across supply chains, it is aiming at capturing most of the market potential in the Middle East. PayMate’s CEO was hopeful about the company’s new expansion and added that he expects that revenue from the Middle East region may contribute to 35% of the total PayMate’s revenue in the coming years.

PayMate deals with transactions worth over 5 billion USD in India and it is aiming at breaching 10 billion USD target by the end of March 2020. In order to expand in the Middle East, it is tying up with global brands like Visa and many other local banks of Saudi Arabia.

As far as its Indian operation goes, it is aiming at filling the 300 billion USD credit gap that has not been covered up by the Indian banks. PayMate has huge potential locally and globally and it would be crucial to watch how it fares in the future.