RIYADH:聽Six Saudi firms have been included by Forbes on its list of top 30 fintech companies in the Middle East and North Africa region.
According to a press release, Egypt led the list with eight companies in the list, followed by 黑料社区 and the UAE with six and five firms respectively.
Interestingly, Egypt and 黑料社区 together comprised聽over 46 percent of the list,聽while the remaining seven countries contributed to the remaining 54 percent.
Five fintech companies from Kuwait were included on the聽list while two companies from Jordan too found their place聽on the list.
The press release noted that Forbes curated this list by聽considering the amount of聽money executed by these companies through digital channels聽in 2022.
Some of the other factors considered by Forbes while preparing this list includes the number of app downloads and active users, geographical presence, annual growth, innovation, impact,聽valuation and funding from venture capitalists.
Egypt鈥檚 Fawry for banking technology and electronic payments topped the 2023 ranking, followed by Jordan鈥檚 MadfooatCom for e-payments and UAE鈥檚 Optasia.
Fawry is the third-oldest company on this list, and as of March 21, 2023, its market value was worth $542 million. In 2022, the company鈥檚 revenues grew by 37.5 percent to $75 million.
Shopping and financial services application Tabby which is headquartered in the UAE and 黑料社区 bagged the fifth place on the list.
The longest-serving fintech firm in this list by Forbes is Morocco-based HPS, founded in 1995. On the other hand, the youngest listee on this list is UAE-based YAP.
YAP had raised $45 million in funding and onboarded about 200,000 customers and over 10,000 small and medium-sized enterprises since its launch.
Earlier in March, Saudi Venture Capital Co. launched the 鈥淚nvestment in Fintech VC Fund鈥 to boost the sector with investments worth $80 million.
SVC aims to stimulate and sustain financing for startups and small and medium enterprises from early stage to initial public offering by backing venture聽capital and private equity firms all around the region.
