This funding, led by EBRD Venture Capital, will be used to enhance Paymob’s technological infrastructure, expand its reach across the Middle East and North Africa, and further help drive financial inclusion and digital payments in the region.

The latest investment will also allow the fintech company to continue developing its product offerings, which include a wide range of payment solutions like mobile wallets, cards, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services, and QR payment methods. 

Paymob’s growth strategy involves expanding its merchant network and also cross-selling additional services to its existing merchants. With its offerings, including tools for businesses to accept payments, manage finances, and access working capital, the company has greatly increased its revenue and merchant engagement.

Founded in 2015 by three students from the American University in Cairo — Islam Shawky, Alain El-Hajj, and Mostafa Menessy — Paymob was created in response to the lack of digital payment solutions available for Egypt’s growing e-commerce market. 

Initially, integrating payment gateways from local banks was a challenge, but the trio identified the potential for a payment infrastructure tailored to the region. Today, Paymob serves over 350,000 merchants across Egypt, Pakistan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

Since its inception, the fintech firm has seen rapid growth. The company’s total number of merchants has more than tripled over the past two years, driven largely by its expansion into new markets and improvements to its product suite. 

Paymob’s payment solutions are not just enhancing the way businesses operate but also contributing to the wider goal of creating a cashless society in the region. Its partnerships with global platforms like Shopify and Tabby have further expanded its reach, while its solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMBs) continue to be a core driver of its business.

In just over a year, Paymob’s transaction volume in the UAE has matched what it took five years to achieve in Egypt. This rapid growth is attributed to the UAE’s strong purchasing power and high adoption of digital wallets, which is reflective of the region’s overall appetite for digital payments.

Despite this outstanding growth in the UAE, Egypt remains Paymob’s largest market. CEO Islam Shawky says that Egypt’s digital payment adoption will soon rival that of the UAE, thanks in part to the central bank’s investments in the country’s digital infrastructure. 

Paymob’s revenues in Egypt have grown sixfold since mid-2022, and the company became profitable in the country during the second quarter of this year. However, Paymob has yet to achieve profitability in other markets.

With continued support from major investors like PayPal Ventures, British International Investment (BII), FMO, and Endeavor Catalyst, Paymob is focused on leading the region’s push towards financial inclusion and digital transformation. The company’s vision remains focused on providing the tools and infrastructure necessary for a cashless future.

With this award-winning digital payment platform, Network International, listed on the FTSE, is helping the local and regional markets to thrive in a challenging environment.

The company is now ready to onboard and empower banks, MNOs, and fintechs in Nigeria and throughout the West African region.

Founded 30 years ago, Network International has a rich history in the digital payment industry. The company was originally the processing arm of Emirates Bank in the UAE, but has now expanded its reach, establishing operations in countries such as Egypt and South Africa under different names. 

With two decades of experience in Nigeria, Network International continues to invest in the region, strengthening its long-standing presence and commitment to the country.

With the deployment of its flagship Network One platform on soil, Network International aligns with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive for in-country transaction routing, enhancing its local processing capabilities. 

The integrated platform provides banks, FIs, and fintechs with a range of payment products and services locally in Nigeria for both issuers and acquirers. 

The suite is complemented by a variety of value-added services such as digital, loyalty, tokenisation, enterprise fraud prevention, embedded finance, data and advisory solutions, and many more.

Network International is strategically investing in rolling out the platform in key markets to effectively serve its local and regional clients and partners across the MEA region.

Nandan Mer, Group CEO, Network International, said: “This major milestone took us only a few months to deploy thanks to a local team that worked tirelessly and seamlessly with cross-functional colleagues in various geographies to ensure we deliver on Network One’s promise of innovation, resilience, and agility. Taking Network One live in Nigeria is integral to our company’s continued commitment to the country and the continent.”

As the fourth-largest GDP in Africa with strong consumer spending, Nigeria is ripe for a digital payments boom. Total transaction value in the domestic digital payments market is projected to reach $21.32 billion in 2024, with an annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 10.06% projected to reach a total amount of $31.28 billion by 2028.

The importance of electronic payments is emphasised by the cost implications of handling cash. Cash transactions are costly due to printing, storing, and transporting physical money, which can represent 2% to 5% of a country’s total transaction costs. 

Electronic payments, on the other hand, are more secure, cost-effective, and faster, facilitating a higher velocity of money in the economy, which can lead to economic growth.

Domestic Deployment Good for Local and African Clients

The Network One platform is an integrated payment suite offering both merchant and issuer solutions, hosted and supported in-country. It relies on a consolidation of best-in-class technologies brought together to provide end-to-end payment processing capabilities in a highly adaptable environment.

Network International is strategically positioning its proprietary technology infrastructure, which is developed, hosted, and maintained on a local level, to cater to the needs of local and regional entities seeking market-relevant digital payment solutions for their consumers.

“Our presence on the ground and comprehension of the specific needs of the local market have enabled us to tailor a solution that is ideally suited for Nigerian enterprises. Our capability to establish a hub equipped with all the essential technology not only empowers our clients to enhance their value proposition but also positions Network to effectively contribute to financial inclusion and democratisation of payments, addressing the needs of a large population of consumers across the continent,” explained Dr Reda Helal Group, MD – Processing, Africa and Co-Head Group Processing, Network International.

Network International operates on a hub-and-spoke model, with Nigeria serving as the hub for West Africa and Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa. Additional hubs are located in Ghana and South Africa, allowing the company to efficiently serve its African clientele.

Swift Growth of Local Talent Yields Significant Outcomes

An important aspect of Network International’s sustained investment in Nigeria is promoting an empowered local workforce. In growing local personnel, Network collaborates and co-innovates with local banks and mobile network operators, providing proximity to small and medium-sized enterprises and payment experts, right in the heart of their operations.

As a show of its goal to enhance the local entity, the company is firming up its staff complement and will continue to enhance its resources and talents. Network recently marked its move from level 4 BBBEE status (in July 2023) to level 1 a year later as it continues to gain trust among African institutions as a payments partner of choice.

“By recruiting the right talent, we are assured that our teams in Nigeria can achieve quicker results with reduced reliance on our international teams, leading to significant operational benefits for our clients locally and regionally,” Dr Helal added.

Network International’s investments throughout Africa have led to substantial improvements in economies of scale. Consequently, the company can provide state-of-the-art technology at a lower cost than what companies might incur if developed internally. This affordability, coupled with the technology’s advanced features, appeals to a broad audience and furthers the company’s mission to expedite digital transformation across the continent.

“Network One’s successful touchdown in Nigeria embodies our ambition to establish ourselves as a company that is authentically local in the African markets we serve,” Mer concluded.

Again, the company’s mission of creating a secure digital payment sector is important for enabling trust among consumers, banks, and other stakeholders. 

Network International has invested in comprehensive cybersecurity and fraud prevention measures to ensure the safety and privacy of transactions. This includes utilising AI tools to detect potential fraud by analysing transaction patterns and device usage.

In focusing on connecting buyers and sellers through digital payments, Network International aims to reduce the reliance on cash and contribute to the growth of the Nigerian economy. The company emphasises its role in enabling financial inclusion by partnering with telcos and fintechs to reach underserved populations, including those in remote areas.

The platform’s virtual wallet proposition simplifies access to digital products for the unbanked, allowing users to obtain cards directly from their phones and load them via mobile wallets. This feature is essential for driving financial inclusion, offering banks enhanced capabilities to serve end-users efficiently.

Network International is also dedicated to corporate social responsibility, having adopted a school on the mainland to promote financial literacy among young students. This initiative is part of the company’s technique to support financial inclusion and digital transformation in Nigeria from an early age.

A collaborative industry is essential for success, with government policies playing an important role in accelerating digital payments and financial inclusion. Network International is prepared to embrace government-sponsored programs and infrastructure developments, advocating for a synergistic approach to enhance the digital economy in Nigeria.

The company’s platform connects millions of buyers and sellers, handling high transaction volumes with speed, security, and scale. Network International’s technology ensures swift and secure electronic transactions, mirroring the speed of cash exchanges, and providing reliability and trust in the digital payment sector.

The majority of users (97%) lost up to USD $1,000 equivalent as a result of these incidents, while 3% of the respondents reported a loss of more than USD $1,000 equivalent.

According to the Kaspersky Security Network, 161,272 financial threats were blocked in Nigeria by Kaspersky in 2022.

These attacks were aimed at stealing financial information such as credit card numbers and login credentials and usually rely on social engineering tactics to lure victims.

However, the impact of a cyber-threat targeting digital payments does not just impose a financial burden on consumers, but also affects them psychologically. For example, 60% of respondents from Nigeria said that they lost sleep and were very anxious about getting their money back.

About 43% of users reported that they have less trust in digital payment providers. 80% also stated that they became more vigilant after experiencing a cyber-incident, and 65% installed security solutions like an antivirus on their infected devices.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic 64% of users in Nigeria faced at least one incident when using digital payments. That’s why it’s increasingly important to know how to interact securely with any emerging technologies, including online banking and mobile wallet services. And all stakeholders, like government, digital payment providers, users and even cybersecurity companies need to come together to create a sustainable and secure payment ecosystem,” said Emad Haffar, Head of technical experts at Kaspersky.

To help users embrace digital payment technologies securely, Kaspersky experts suggest the following:

• Do not share your PIN, password or any other financial information with anyone online or offline.
• Avoid using public Wi-Fi to make any online transactions.
• Use a separate credit or debit card to make online transactions. Set a spending limit on the card which can help keep a track of financial transactions.
• Shop from trusted and official websites
• Use a reliable security solution such as Kaspersky Premium on all your devices which are used for financial transactions. It helps to detect fraudulent or suspicious activity and check the security of visited websites.

For developers, banks and companies involved in providing digital payment services, Kaspersky recommends:

• Invest in holistic cybersecurity solutions that can help detect fraud across multiple levels of online payment processes and consumer touchpoints.
• Complex attacks by APT groups on financial institutions are also on a rise. In-depth visibility and threat intelligence are a necessity to keep customers protected and to ensure business continuity. Using the Kaspersky Threat Intelligence service is helpful to support your IT teams in analysing and mitigating threats.
• Conduct cyber awareness training for employees continuously. This will help employees know the red flags to look for when an organisation is under attack and to understand their role in protecting the organisation.

The payment giant said customers in the region could leverage the global partnerships with end-to-end enablers, such as Thales, Network International, and Verestro, along with regional partners such as FOO, Ukeshe, and Paymentology.

In a statement obtained by TechEconomy, Mastercard, Gaurang Shah, Head of Products EEMEA, said, the programme is all about providing choice and convenience across the digital payment landscape.

“This region is embracing the digital revolution to realize its True digital potential and that is exciting news for the whole ecosystem, from consumers and small businesses to financial institutions and governments.

Mastercard is looking forward to growing the digital economy through our partnerships and continuous innovation in the Middle East and Africa.”

The programme across EEMEA includes a list of partners with the expertise to simplify the process of bringing best-in-class capabilities into the issuer’s environment.

According to the payment giant, the programme would make it easier for its consumers to pay and enjoy the value of their cards in personal ways. It added that the solution is backed by the speed and security of its global network.

The firm stated that consumers are making a rapid and lasting shift to a digital by default mindset, with research showing that 73 percent of consumers in the Middle East and Africa are shopping more online since the onset of the pandemic, and 66 percent to bank online.