Egypt-founded financial technology company Paymob has raised $35 million in a pre-Series C funding round as it seeks to expand its payments infrastructure across the Middle East and North Africa.
The financing was co-led by Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala Investment Company and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or EBRD. British International Investment, Global Ventures and DPI Ventures also participated.
Paymob plans to use the capital to expand its digital payment acceptance business, introduce additional products for small and medium-sized enterprises and develop technology for agentic commerce. The round takes its total funding raised to more than $125 million.
Capital Backs a Broader Regional Push
Founded in Cairo in 2015 by Islam Shawky, Alain El Hajj and Mostafa Menessy, Paymob initially developed payment infrastructure for businesses operating in Egypt. Its platform now enables merchants to accept transactions online and in stores through products including payment gateways, point-of-sale terminals, SoftPOS technology and payment links.
The company operates across Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman, serving more than 390,000 merchants. Paymob says its platform brings together more than 60 payment methods through a single contract, application programming interface, settlement process and dashboard. This structure is designed to reduce the need for merchants to negotiate and integrate separately with multiple payment providers.
Regional payment systems remain fragmented, with card networks, digital wallets, bank installment programs and buy-now-pay-later providers differing from one market to another. A merchant operating across several MENA countries can therefore face separate commercial arrangements and settlement cycles in each jurisdiction. Paymob’s model attempts to place those options within one technical system rather than requiring businesses to manage each connection independently.
Gulf Operations Gain Weight
Paymob’s latest financing follows a period of rapid growth outside its original Egyptian market. The company reported that consolidated revenue across its four markets tripled during the past 18 months. Revenue from Gulf Cooperation Council countries increased sevenfold over the same period and now accounts for close to half of the group’s total revenue.
Those figures indicate that the company’s Gulf operations have become a considerably larger part of its business, reducing its reliance on Egypt as its primary source of revenue.
Expansion in the UAE has played a central role in that shift. Paymob received a Retail Payment Services license from the Central Bank of the UAE in January 2025. Since then, it has onboarded approximately 20,000 merchants across its three GCC markets: the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman. The company entered the UAE in 2023, opened an office in Riyadh during the same year and subsequently established a presence in Oman.
Institutional Investors Return
The pre-Series C round also extends EBRD’s relationship with Paymob. In September 2024, the development bank led a $22 million financing round involving British International Investment, Global Ventures, A15, FMO, PayPal Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst. That investment was directed toward product development and market expansion.
EBRD classified its earlier investment as part of its Venture Capital Investment Programme, which supports early- and growth-stage technology companies in the markets where the bank operates. The financing took the form of an equity investment in Paymob and remains under implementation.
Bruno Lusic, VC and Growth Investor, EBRD, stated: "Paymob has built the payments infrastructure that MENA's SME economy has been missing, a single, scalable layer that removes friction for merchants and unlocks growth across markets that have historically been underserved by digital finance. This investment reflects EBRD's continued commitment to backing high-growth fintech champions. We are proud to support Paymob's next phase of expansion across the GCC and beyond.”
British International Investment has also backed Paymob previously. The UK development finance institution committed $5 million to the company’s Series B round in 2022. BII says its investment is intended to improve opportunities for small businesses by widening access to more efficient payment technology. Mubadala is joining Paymob’s shareholder base through the latest round, while DPI Ventures is also identified as a new investor.
Ali Eid Al Mheiri, Executive Director, UAE Diversified Assets, at Mubadala’s UAE Investments Platform, said: “Paymob’s expansion in the UAE aligns closely with our ambition under our MENA Venture Capital Fund, to support companies that strengthen the country’s digital economy and reinforce its position as a leading regional fintech hub. With a scalable payments platform and strong growth potential across the GCC, Paymob is well positioned to support merchants, advance financial inclusion and contribute to economic diversification. This investment reflects Mubadala’s continued focus on backing innovative businesses that can scale across the region and create long-term value.”
New Products Enter the Roadmap
Alongside geographic expansion, part of the $35 million will support new products aimed at SME merchants.
Agentic commerce is another area included in the company’s development plans. The term generally describes transactions in which artificial intelligence systems can perform parts of the purchasing process on behalf of customers or businesses. Paymob has said it wants to prepare its platform for this emerging form of commerce.
Chief Executive Islam Shawky said: “Paymob morphed into a regional platform over the past 18 months, propelled by the exponential growth of our GCC business. This Pre-Series C funding round will help us accelerate our growth plan across the MENA region and fast-track our product roadmap to become the go-to payments platform for agentic commerce. We are very excited about Mubadala joining our cap table and grateful for the continued support of our existing shareholders.”
Paymob’s next phase will involve scaling across markets that have different licensing regimes, payment preferences and levels of digital adoption. Obtaining regulatory approval is only one part of that process; the company must also attract merchants, maintain reliable payment infrastructure and adapt its services to local banking and consumer behavior.
The latest investment gives Paymob additional resources to extend a business that began in Egypt into a wider regional platform.
