Ziina, the UAE peer-to-peer payment app, is expanding to Jordan as part of the company’s mission to drive financial freedom in the Middle East.
The company’s co-founders, siblings Faisal and Sarah Toukan, explain that Ziina’s first international foray represents a ‘homecoming’ as both grew up in Jordan’s capital city Amman before heading to the US for higher education.
Their decision to move into Jordan before any other Middle Eastern country came out of their desire to uplift and strengthen their home country by expanding access to financial services.
Faisal Toukan, CEO and Co-Founder of Ziina says: “The median age in Jordan is around 23 years-old, which makes most of the population digitally native. The Central Bank of Jordan has recognised this, naming microfinance, digital financial services, and small and medium-sized enterprise finance among its core sectoral pillars.
“As a proud Jordanian, I am delighted to introduce Ziina to my home country. Our team have worked tirelessly to develop a product that makes the payment process infinitely faster and more convenient, while also prioritising a delightful user experience. We have no doubt that Ziina will make getting paid much easier for every single Jordanian.”
Backing for Ziina
At the start of last year, Ziina received Y Combinator’s backing and raised a $9million seed round from prominent investors, including Avenir Growth, Goodwater Capital, ANIM, Oman Technology Fund, Class 5 Global, Long Journey Ventures, Graph Ventures, Jabbar Internet Group, Wamda, and FJ Labs. Other backers also include employees and execs at PayPal, Instagram, Stripe, Revolut, Venmo, Brex, Checkout.com, Notion, Block, Airbnb and Deel.
Ziina, which lets UAE residents send and receive payments with just a phone number, says it is focused on developing state-of-the-art tools that are “delightful to use, empowering individuals to gain more control of their financial future”.
Image and article originally from thefintechtimes.com. Read the original article here.