UAE-based P2P payments app Mamo raises $8 million

By Leandra Monteiro

UAE-based FinTech Mamo has raised $8 million in a pre-Series A funding round. According to a company statement, the round was led by Global Venture and also joined by 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Captial, and some FinTech investors from Silicon Valley. This comes little over a year after Mamo raised $1.5 million in a seed round, which was led by Global Founders Capital.

Founded by three previous Google employees; Asim Janjua, Imad Gharazeddine, and Mohammad El Saadi, Mamo had launched last year with Mamo Pay, a digital wallet. Mamo’s digital wallet and payments platform deals majorly with peer-to-peer payments, enabling its users to send and receive payments from anywhere in the UAE with a few clicks on a smartphone and zero fees.

According to a company statement, Mamo said that it has received principal regulatory approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority to operate under its Innovation Testing License. The FinTech start-up had also joined Visa’s FinTech Fast Track Program last year. In addition to its UAE expansion, Mamo is also preparing to launch its services in Saudi in the near future.

According to media reports, commenting on the investment, Co-founder Mohammed El Saadi said, “This fundraising is a testament to Mamo’s performance in the region and reflects our ambition to be the leader within the payments space. We believe that accepting and making payments should be much simpler than it is today, for everyone. Through Mamo, we will support the UAE and MENA in its transition to a digital economy. At Mamo, we want to lead and drive financial independence and inclusion across the greater MENA region.”

According to media reports, Basil Moftah, General Partner at Global Ventures, said, “It is exciting to see Mamo’s growth and even more so, to be a part of their journey. The regional FinTech space is booming because of innovators like Mamo who are empowering customers and businesses alike, by revolutionizing the ways they traditionally deliver and consume financial services. The start-up is setting the tone for a thriving and innovation-driven financial ecosystem in MENA.”