Paymob is an infrastructure technology enabler providing payment solutions through mobile wallet technology in Egypt.
The startup now has an extraordinary 85% market share of all mobile wallet transactions in Egypt.
The startup has also seen a 450% increase in merchant onboarding since the start of the Covidd-19 pandemic.
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The startup also powers merchants across other markets that include:
- Kenya
- Pakistan
- Palestine
The startup recently raised $3.5 million as it seeks to expand its merchant network and accelerate regional expansion in Africa and the gulf region.
Like many startups, Paymob was started out of a need that existed in the Egyptian market:
“Our initial work was on an e-commerce platform until we realised the limitations imposed by cash-based economies. We identified the serious challenges facing the digital economy and decided to work on fixing them.” ~ Islam Shawky, Co-Founder, Paymob
According to Shawky, the biggest gap and bottleneck in digital financial services in under-served economies is digital payments. Paymob seeks to provide under-served merchants and consumers with improved access to these finance tools.
Some of the startup offerings include:
- Online payment – Enables businesses to accept multiple online payments, control and automate billing via a dashboard, APIs, and e-Commerce plugins
- POS solution – Enables businesses to accept a variety of in-store payment methods including cash, cards, bank, and digital wallets
- Payment link – Enables businesses to accept online payments even without a website via a personalized payment link shareable on WhatsApp, social media, etc
The Paymob Payment Link product is one of its unique offerings, which sets the startup apart.
The product features enable users to:
- Create one-product link and sell to the masses via social media –
- Send customized and fully detailed invoices via social media
- Get payment confirmations on the spot from social media sales
One popular use case of the Payment Link product is in selling event tickets and receiving reservations via a payment link. Businesses can receive reservations and payment confirmations immediately without the need for a website or POS device.
Moreover, the Payment Link product can be used over any channel. When customers are ready to pay, they simply enter their preferred wallet and make the payment right on the spot.
The links can even be embedded in electronic invoices for faster payments.
It has not been an easy journey though for Paymob, especially in regulation:
“In a heavily regulated country such as Egypt, it was inevitably challenging to fully understand the regulations and compliance required, to initially enter the industry. We are long past that now, but it is a journey many entrepreneurs have to go through.” ~ Shawky, Co-Founder, Paymob
Paymob is clearly solving a major pain point in emerging markets – the ability for consumers to perform digital payments easily and the ability for merchants to collect payments efficiently.
The startup is a testimony to the fact that despite challenging regulation, entrepreneurs and startups building innovative and bleeding-edge products that solve real business and consumer needs have a massive opportunity in the emerging markets of Africa.
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