ISLAMABAD: Hala, a Saudi Arabia-based regional fintech company, has announced that its holding company acquired United Arab Emirates (UAE) startup Paymennt.com during the 2nd edition of the LEAP exhibition in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
Paymennt.com, formerly known as Point Checkout and established since 2017, is a payment service provider that is regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Market’s RegLab, and with offices across the UAE and Jordan.
The startup serves more than 2,000 micro and small businesses by offering them a platform to support their offline-to-online journey along with an integrated online payment solution and has managed to grow by over 250 percent in payment processing year-over-year.
The acquisition will allow Hala to further enhance its product offerings by incorporating online payments, thus enabling its SME customers to increase their online presence.
"Our expansion will not stop here, soon we will announce another acquisition in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) to help and support regional entrepreneurs and SMEs (small-media enterprises) in the region," Hala co-founder Esam Al-Nahdi said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Also our product portfolio will be expanded to enable entrepreneurs and SMEs."
Hala has made progressive leaps within the fintech industry ever since it commenced its operations in 2018, according to the fintech firm. The company witnessed a significant growth in 2022 by doubling its customer base and revenues year-over-year.
“We are excited to welcome Paymennt team to our family to join us in executing our shared vision. The trigger was simple, we met smart entrepreneurs who share a similar vision and who are building a complementary product that clearly fits within our strategy,” Maher Loubieh, another Hala co-founder, announced during the LEAP conference last week.
"With more to come, this is our first endeavor outside our homeland and is the first block towards executing our global vision. We believe integrating the offering of Paymennt.com with that of Hala will provide a major added-value for our customers in Saudi and in UAE."
“It’s a privilege to join a key player in the region’s FINTECH ecosystem, one that shares our commitment and passion to cater to the needs of SMEs,” Paymennt.com CEO Bashar Saleh said, terming the acquisition a “major step forward” for SME payments.
"We are very proud of what our team has achieved to date, having gained the trust of our merchants in processing their payments. Now, being part of the Hala family, we can better serve our customers and grow across the Middle East and beyond."
The LEAP exhibition is a global tech convention that provides a platform for bringing together one of the finest brains in the global tech industry from around the world to discover new ideas, build partnerships, and connect with inspiring mentors and investors to tap into the limitless potential of tech for a positive future.
The 2nd edition of the conference was held in Riyadh from Feb 6 till Feb 9, which featured innovative technology solutions and products for leading global information technology and telecommunication-related companies.
