Paymob Raises $35M Pre-Series C Led by Mubadala and EBRD to Scale MENA Payments
Egyptian payments company Paymob has closed a $35 million pre-Series C round co-led by Mubadala and the EBRD, with the company reporting that its GCC operations now account for nearly half of group revenue. The raise follows what Paymob describes as a sevenfold revenue increase and positions the company to deepen merchant payments infrastructure across the MENA region.
Paymob: the UAE licence did the real work
The $35 million is the headline. But the number that explains it is 20,000 — the merchants Paymob onboarded across the Gulf in roughly eight months after securing a single licence from the UAE's central bank in January 2025.
Before that licence, Paymob couldn't do direct merchant acquisition in the UAE. After it, GCC revenues grew sevenfold and now make up nearly half the company's total income.
That's the lesson here for any African founder eyeing a market outside their home country: the product rarely changes — the regulatory unlock does. One well-timed licence turned a Cairo-built payments company into a regional platform. Getting that permission is the work.
5 sources
- Paymob Scoops $35M as GCC Market Hits Nearly Half of Group Revenue · launchbaseafrica.com · T1
- Egypt’s Paymob Grabs $35M to Scale its Merchant Payments Business Across the MENA Region · techbuild.africa · T2
- Paymob Raises $35M to Expand MENA Payments Infrastructure · ventureburn.com · T2
- Paymob raises $35 million pre-Series C co-led by Mubadala, EBRD · wamda.com · T1
- Paymob raises $35 million pre-Series C to expand payments business across MENA · thecondia.com · T2