UAE-headquartered fintech Qashio has raised $10 million in a seed round, with participation from strategic international and regional investors, to accelerate its expansion into Saudi Arabia.
The round is supported by global investors such as One Way Ventures (early investors in Brex), MITAA, Cadorna Ventures, as well as regional investors such as Sanabil 500 MENA, Nuwa Capital, Iliad Partners, Phoenix Investments and strategic family offices and angels. The round consists of both equity and non-equity financing.
Founded in 2021 by Jonathan Lau and Armin Moradi, Qashio is said to be the first fintech in UAE history to programmatically issue employee corporate cards. Its enterprise-class spend management platform gives business owners and finance managers full visibility and control over all spend.
Qashio’s dashboard integrates real-time tracking for all business expenses and allows businesses and SMEs to make informed cash flow decisions.
Lex Zhao, Partner at One Way Ventures commented, “Co-founders Armin and Jonathan are a unique combination of deep ERP expertise and have a demonstrated track record of building world-class software products. We are excited and grateful to join this round and share our experience as early investors in Chipper Cash and Brex.”
Eric Menorval, CTO of banking group Namutek Fintech in Central America, has joined to lead the technical development and integrations, Arun Khehar, former SVP at Oracle ECEMEA and Antoine Massad, former CEO of MAN Group MENA and Majid Al Futtaim Asset Management has recently joined the company. advisory board, bringing decades of expertise in business software and investment networks across the region.
Moradi said: “Saudi Arabia is making great efforts to align with its Vision 2030; takes fintech-friendly approaches and brings more fintech firms into the market. At Qashio, we are proud to be an integral part of driving a cashless society in the UAE and now Saudi Arabia. We are committed to helping businesses move away from all of these manual finance processes and gain more visibility and control by providing a safe, secure solution that is ready for enterprise-class as well as SMB implementation.”
Lau added: “We are grateful to all our investors and advisors for their support of our expansion into the largest country in the Middle East. This round of funding will help us expand hiring and growth into Saudi Arabia and other parts of the GCC, as well as accelerate the implementation of the product roadmap. We are excited about the days ahead.”
Qashio’s virtual and physical cards combined with the software enable businesses to manage their expenses in a more automated and transparent manner, saving hundreds of man hours and reducing petty cash leakage in the process. Finance and HR departments benefit from better expense reporting, better visibility, control over cash flow and a skilled workforce.
Read: Here’s how fintech is helping businesses control their spending and manage financial operations
