Alfii secures $2.5m pre-seed funding to launch FinTech-powered HR Platform

By Delisha Fernandes

Alfii, a Dubai-based tech startup, announced pre-seed funding of $2.5 million to expand its team and continue building out its FinTech-powered HR automation platform.

The round was led by Preface Ventures, a US-based venture capital firm that focuses on infrastructure enterprise companies. Kayan Ventures, UAE-based Aditum Ventures and Wayfinders, and a collection of local and regional angel investors participated in the round.

Alfii will use the funding to continue developing and enhancing its FinTech-powered software platform. The near-term focus is continuing to build out an innovative suite of payroll features that provide clients with smarter, faster ways to manage payroll and salary disbursements, drastically simplifying a typically tedious and time-consuming process for HR owners.

“We are looking to build the next generation of this product class, and we are building it entirely in-house, which means we need to bring on world-class talent to grow our business and better serve our customers,” said Yousef Albarqawi, alfii’s CEO and Co-founder.

Alfii’s progression is part of a more significant trend in the SaaS world towards adapting tools initially available to enterprises and making them accessible and suitable for small- to medium-sized businesses and startups. Yet when it comes to HR software in particular, many pain points must be solved by existing solutions in the MENA region.

“Data interoperability is an industry-wide challenge in the HR stack, but in developing regions like MENA, those challenges are further exacerbated by local and regulatory infrastructure,” said Farooq Abbasi, General Partner of Preface Ventures. “With alfii’s all-in-one software suite, companies will be able to understand better and manage their human capital resources while improving the user experience for employees with features like digital-to-cash remittances, benefits selection, and more.”