PAYMOB

Three engineers, Islam Shawky, Alain El Hajj, and Mostafa Menessy, started Paymob in 2015. Egypt at the time was almost entirely a cash economy.

Most people did not have a bank card. Most shops could not accept one anyway.

The founders saw the gap. Businesses wanted to get paid digitally but the tools were clumsy, expensive, or simply did not exist.

So they built the infrastructure themselves. Payment gateways, card readers, and mobile wallet technology stitched into one system a small merchant could actually use.

Paymob is the middle layer between a business and getting paid. A merchant plugs into Paymob and can suddenly accept cards, mobile wallets, and online payments.

Paymob takes a small fee on each transaction. That is the money engine.

It also powers other companies, so banks and fintechs run on Paymob's rails behind the scenes. In plain terms, when you pay a shop in Egypt with your phone, there is a decent chance Paymob is quietly doing the work.

The core is the Paymob payment gateway, which lets any business accept online payments. There are card-acceptance tools and POS hardware for physical shops.

It supports mobile wallets, a big deal in a region where wallets often beat bank cards. It also offers payment links and simple integrations so small sellers can get paid without building anything technical.

Paymob grew by owning the boring, hard part. Building payment infrastructure is unglamorous, so most startups avoid it.

Paymob leaned in. It became the default gateway for merchants in Egypt, then used that base to push into the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Oman.

The $50 million from PayPal Ventures in 2022 was the fuel. PayPal does not write checks like that unless it thinks the rails matter.

Egypt's economy is the elephant in the room. The Egyptian pound has lost a large share of its value in recent years, which squeezes everyone.

Paymob earns much of its money in a currency that keeps weakening. Getting cash-loving customers and shops to switch to digital is also slow, generational work.

And it is not alone anymore. Fawry got there first and is bigger.

Global players want the same MENA merchants. Paymob has to keep expanding fast to stay ahead.

The headline backer is PayPal Ventures, which led the record $50 million Series B in 2022 alongside Kora Capital and Clay Point. In 2024 the round was extended by $22 million led by EBRD Venture Capital.

Earlier investors included Global Ventures, A15, FMO, and British International Investment. Total funding has climbed past $90 million.

When PayPal itself backs your payment rails, that is a strong signal about where the region is heading.