• Egypt and Saudi Arabia together comprised over 46 percent of the list

Arab News

RIYADH: Six Saudi firms have been included by Forbes on its list of top 30 fintech companies in the Middle East and North Africa region.

According to a press release, Egypt led the list with eight companies in the list, followed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE with six and five firms respectively.

Interestingly, Egypt and Saudi Arabia together comprised over 46 percent of the list, while the remaining seven countries contributed to the remaining 54 percent.

Five fintech companies from Kuwait were included on the list while two companies from Jordan too found their place on the list.

The press release noted that Forbes curated this list by considering the amount of money executed by these companies through digital channels in 2022.

Some of the other factors considered by Forbes while preparing this list includes the number of app downloads and active users, geographical presence, annual growth, innovation, impact, valuation and funding from venture capitalists.

Egypt’s Fawry for banking technology and electronic payments topped the 2023 ranking, followed by Jordan’s MadfooatCom for e-payments and UAE’s Optasia.

Fawry is the third-oldest company on this list, and as of March 21, 2023, its market value was worth $542 million. In 2022, the company’s revenues grew by 37.5 percent to $75 million.

Shopping and financial services application Tabby which is headquartered in the UAE and Saudi Arabia bagged the fifth place on the list.

The longest-serving fintech firm in this list by Forbes is Morocco-based HPS, founded in 1995. On the other hand, the youngest listee on this list is UAE-based YAP.

YAP had raised $45 million in funding and onboarded about 200,000 customers and over 10,000 small and medium-sized enterprises since its launch.

Earlier in March, Saudi Venture Capital Co. launched the “Investment in Fintech VC Fund” to boost the sector with investments worth $80 million.

SVC aims to stimulate and sustain financing for startups and small and medium enterprises from early stage to initial public offering by backing venture capital and private equity firms all around the region.