46% of Middle East Fintech firms in Egypt and Saudi Arabia: Forbes

46% of Middle East Fintech firms in Egypt and Saudi Arabia: Forbes

Egypt and Saudi Arabia comprise 46% of the Fintech companies in the region, with eight and six entries, respectively, as Egypt’s Fawry for Banking Technology and Electronic Payments tops the list in Forbes ranking. Bahrain, Iraq, and Morocco all recorded one entry each.

Forbes Middle East revealed its ranking of the region’s Top 30 Fintech Companies, highlighting the most innovative Middle East-based companies using the latest technology to digitise banking, finance, and investment.

The list was curated considering the amount of money executed through digital channels in 2022, the number of app downloads and active users, geographical presence, annual growth, innovation, impact, valuation, and funding from venture capitalists. Fintech operations owned by exchange houses, traditional banks, governments, and telecom firms were excluded.

Payment firms

Payment firms dominate the ranking. Of the 30 companies, three are primarily buy-now-pay-later platforms: Tabby, Tamara, and valU. Tabby raised $58 million in a Series C funding round in January 2023, bringing its valuation to $660 million, while Saudi’s Tamara announced in March 2023 a debt facility of $150 million from Goldman Sachs, bringing its total funding in equity and debt to $366 million.

Egypt’s Fawry for Banking Technology and Electronic Payments is the third-oldest company on the list. Fawry’s revenue