Dubai, UAE: 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 the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The seed funding 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 experienced serial entrepreneurs with multiple successful exits, Jonathan Lau and Armin Moradi, Qashio is the first fintech in UAE history to programmatically issue employee corporate cards. Its enterprise-class cost management platform gives business owners and financial managers full visibility and control over all expenses. Their 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 to share our experience as early investors in Chipper Cash and Brex.”
Qashio has brought in experienced executives and advisors to round out the team: Eric Menorval, well-known CTO from Central America banking group Namutek Fintech, 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 have recently joined the advisory board, bringing decades of expertise in business software and investment networks across the region.
Armin Moradi, CEO and co-founder of Qashio commented, “Saudi Arabia is making great efforts to align with its Vision 2030; taking fintech-friendly approaches and bringing 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 KSA, we are committed to helping businesses move away from all these manual financial processes and gain more visibility and control by providing a safe, secure solution that is ready for enterprise class implementation as well as SMBs.
Jonathan Lau, CPO and co-founder of Qashio said: “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 accelerating the execution of the product roadmap. We are excited for 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.
Qashio has signed well-known brands and clients across KSA and UAE and continues to onboard clients. These include well-known brands such as Nana, Swiss International, Yaa Foods, Al Shiha Group, Tasoru Holding, Instashop, Saif Belhasa, EFS Facilities Management Services Group, Papa Johns, Bulldozer Group, etc. Qashio is the winner of the Gulf Capital FinTech Business Solution of the Year 2022.
With Qashio, business owners, CFOs, HR managers and finance teams can set spending limits on virtual and physical cards issued in seconds, and limit and control spending categories and vendors. This eliminates the use of cash, avoids delayed expense claims, reduces the amount of work involved in reimbursements and ultimately replaces manual invoicing and vendor/supplier payment.
Mastercard’s report on “The Future of Fintech” revealed that the majority of fintech financing deals (32%) and financing capital (49%) across MENA in 2021 were focused on the UAE. The MENA region is expected to have 45 fintech unicorns by 2030, with payments and remittances expected to be the top applications or features driving fintech growth. Fintech startups in MENA recorded 183% growth in funding in 2021, the highest rate in the past five years.
For more information about Qashio or for additional advice on best practice cost management solutions, visit www.qashio.com
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About Qashio:
Qashio is a comprehensive cost management platform and financial control center for MENA businesses that provides transparency into corporate spending and software-enabled card payments and end-to-end accounts payable automation. With Qashio’s comprehensive software suite and end-to-end support, brands can control their finances, reduce expenses and identify areas of cash overspending.
