MENA-Focused BNPL Startup Tabby Raises $58m at $660m Valuation to Grow Its Operations.
The news:
Tabby has raised $58 million at a $660 million valuation to expand its operations and product offerings across the markets where it is present.
It offers users buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services to users who want to make in-store and even online purchases from international brands such as H&M.
The startup has raised $410 million since it launched in 2019.
The funding will be used to support the company’s operations across markets where it has a presence and create more consumer financial services.
Sequoia Capital led Tabby’s $58 million funding round, with other investors such as PayPal Ventures, Mubadala Investment Capital, and Endeavor Catalyst partaking in the round.
In 2019 Hosam Arab founded the company after leaving his position as CEO of Namshi, an eCommerce company that later got acquired by a Dubai-based real estate firm.
Arab founded the company not only to provide BNPL services for people in the MENA region but to solve the problem of over-dependence on cash-based transactions.
“With buy now, pay later, our view and hypothesis was that, in addition to the well-known benefits of buy now, pay later, we also provide an alternative for consumers to pay online digitally. And if we’re able to do that, that becomes a very interesting solution for the retailers of this market.” Said second-time founder.
In August of 2021, it raised $50 million at a $300 million valuation. At the time, it announced that it had 400,000 active shoppers using its platform, and approximately 3,000 installs were recorded daily.
With this new raise, the startup has revealed that it now has over a million active users who shop with more than 3,000 brands yearly. It also expanded into Egypt last year, making it active in four markets which are — with the inclusion of Egypt — Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Kuwait.
According to Arab, credence insight in developing countries is low, leaving a huge gap for startups such as Tabby to thrive in those regions. Tabby is now one of the most valued startups in the MENA region.
ARTICLE SOURCE: Techpoint.africa
