In recent news, a startup headquartered in Dubai, named SimpliFi, has officially launched their Cards as a Service platform for the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan. The startup had been operating in stealth mode until it was the right time to launch its services. Moreover, Simplifi had closed a seed round which was led by Saudia Arab’s Raed Ventures with the participation of Rally Cap Ventures, and Riyadh-based Sukna Ventures. This deal also included the participation of angel investors and former and current executives coming from companies such as Facebook, Careem, Plaid, etc.
The startup was founded in 2020 by Ali Sattar who was previously operating at Careem as the Head of Careem Pay. The aim of SimpliFi is to democratize the cards issuance in the region through the startup’s APIs and easy-to-use portal. This primarily enables any business of any kind to issue virtual or physical cards. In addition, Technology businesses with engineering teams can use the respect APIs to build and launch products with little coding. While the fintech part allows to oversees the entire end-to-end processes from managing the partners like banks, card schemes, identity verification to card fulfillment and delivery.
According to the company:
“In addition to providing a purpose-built tech stack, SimpliFi handles day to day card operations and compliance functions so businesses can focus on their core strengths while leveraging the capabilities and scale of SimpliFi.”
In regards to the challenge of issuing cards and bringing change, Ali stated the following:
“Prepaid cards are highly versatile with a host of use cases allowing businesses to streamline operations, generate new revenue streams, and drive loyalty. Until now banks have had exclusivity in issuing cards. We are changing that by empowering every business to become a payments company and participating in the benefits from financial ownership, without the underlying complexities and hassle. The massive impact this can create on the financial services ecosystem in the region inspires us to wake up every day.”
Wael Nafee who led Raed Ventures had worked with Ali at Careem where he operated as the VP of Product, In regards to the investment provided to SimpliFi:
“Investing in SimpliFi was an easy decision given the problem it is solving, the vision and experience of the team, and the early traction they have had. We see card issuance being a common need and a major pain point for a number of businesses we speak to and are excited to be supporting SimpliFi as they build the payments infrastructure to enable companies in the region to build and scale.”
As of now, the startup has a market cap of over $14 billion and has a team of over 15 employees that have operated in top-tier companies across the globe.
