Nadya Eka Lestari
TechInAfrica — A buy-now-pay-later startup, Tabby has secured $2 million in seed funding to offer instant credit to consumers through its banking partners for shopping at online and offline retailers, the company announced in a statement.
The yet-to-launch startup was founded by Namshi’s co-founder and former CEO Hosam Arab in early 2019. Hosam had co-founded Namshi as one of the first Rocket Internet’s e-commerce ventures in the Middle East & North Africa in 2011 and left it in March this year after it was fully acquired by Mohamed Alabbar’s Emaar Malls. Namshi is Rocket Internet’s biggest exit in MENA region so far.
This is the reason behind Rocket Internet’s CEO Oliver Samwer’s investment in Hosam’s latest venture. The company’s seed was led by Global Founders Capital, a Berlin-based investment firm founded by Oliver. Hong Kong-based Arbor Ventures and Dubai-based Wamda Capital also participated in the round.
Tabby will allow the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia consumers to pay for their online and offline purchases in a deferred single payment or multiple installments.
“Tabby’s proprietary decision engine allows customers to check out without the need to enter their credit or debit card details when making a purchase and thus intends to become a serious alternative to cash-on-delivery (COD),” the company rep said.
The UAE-based startup has yet to share the launch date but said that it is currently in the process of integrating its technology with a number of large retail merchants in the region and when launched in the coming months, it will available on checkout pages of e-commerce platforms as a method of payment along with other usual payment options such as credit cards and COD.
Hosam Arab, CEO of Tabby said, “We’re excited to be launching a buy now, pay later business that provides great value to consumers, retailers, and financial institutions while addressing the government’s goals of growing non-cash transactions in their economies.”
Using Tabby, the retailers will have the chance to grow revenue and transaction sizes as they would indirectly be providing their customers access to flexible payment options for making purchases. According to Tabby’s website, the retailers are paid at the time of purchase without having to wait for customers to make the payments.
“Tabby customers will be able to better manage their spending by making purchases at their convenience and paying for them when they have the funds available, while retailers will benefit from being able to sell more to their customers, and gain access to a larger customer base,” Hosam said.
The startup aims to use this seed round of investment to develop its proprietary technology further, grow its merchant network, and hire talent across other regions.
Source: menabytes.com
