The fintech startup will expand into Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman by the end of 2021
Dubai-based fintech company, Cashew Payments, which provides payment alternatives to cash and credit cards, is aiming to raise $40 million in Series A, to expand across all the GCC, said Ibtissam Ouassif, co-founder and chief product officer at cashew.
“We are currently expanding into Saudi Arabia and are looking forward to starting operations in Kuwait and Oman by the end of 2021. We have invested about $7.5 million, pre-series A, so far into our technology and in building our team,” said Ouassif.
Cashew was conceived in 2019 and was officially launched in September 2020 and currently has 31 employees.
Ouassif was involved in the digitalisation of payments from an early stage in her career. While working at MBME to develop digital products for governmental entities and banks in the UAE, she had the opportunity to gain perspective from a business entity and from a consumer’s point of view. This also proved vital in helping her build products that are based on expectations to create a win-win for businesses and the people they are serving.
The concept of ‘Buy-Now-Pay-Later’ (BNPL) has been a proven model in the US, Europe, and Australia with customer adoption figures constantly gaining momentum.
“The UAE consumers shop from international websites as well, so they are already very familiar with the BNPL concept. Yet, no one was offering it through local merchants. This was the point of inspiration to start Cashew. However, I wasn’t excited to introduce cashew as a BNPL service that is merely a replication or a service that only provides a means to delay full payments and break down purchases into installments. These products are essential; however, they do not address every customer’s pain point when it comes to financing. That is why we are also introducing our ‘Defer’ product which offers customers a completely new line of financing that addresses their large ticket purchases and has no reliance on their existing debit or credit cards,” added Ouassif.
Mashreq Bank, one of the leading financial institutions in the UAE recently collaborated with Cashew Payments, to enable acceptance of their “buy now pay later” offering to consumers at Mashreq merchant partners across the UAE.
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