PC: Zawya
Augmentum Fintech’s $4 Million Investment to Boost Pemo’s Expansion in the Middle East.
This is fintech, which just disclosed today that it is leading a $7 million funding round for UAE-based fintech startup Pemo in a bigger $4 million investment. Founded in 2022, Pemo provides solutions in expense management and business payments inclusive of corporate card services tailored to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UAE. The funding shall support Pemo’s goals for driving innovation, improving the experience of users and expansion into new regional markets.
Serial entrepreneurs Ayham Gorani, Valerie Konde, Alessandro Duri, and Saed Ghorani co-founded Pemo. With experience from company building of notable stature, the group focuses on the experience gained from high-growth ventures like Rocket Internet, Google, and successful projects such as Pleo, a spend management company, and Zalora, an e-commerce platform. By leveraging this experience, Pemo seeks to change the SME finance management paradigm in the UAE and far beyond.
The company has offices in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, thereby providing a perfect ground for further expansion into other high-growing economies across the Middle East. Some opportunity exists for Pemo’s corporate card offering in this region, significantly because the analogous domains of expense management tools are relatively underdeveloped compared with Europe. Because SMEs will feature prominently in the economic growth of most Middle East countries, Pemo has an opportunity to fill the gap and empower businesses with easily accessible financial tools.
Augmentum will co-invest in this round with Abu Dhabi-based Shorooq Partners, a technology-focused venture capital firm operating in the MENA region, and existing investors such as Cherry Ventures, Speedinvest, and Fintech Collective. Perry Blacher, Partner at Augmentum Fintech Management Ltd will join Pemo’s board of directors, adding more expertise to their growth.
Augmentum Fintech CEO, Tim Levene, commented on the outcome, saying, “We are excited about Pemo’s prospects in the region.” This is an opportunity to support the growth of small and medium-sized businesses in the Middle East through advanced fintech solutions, adding, “Pemo represents an outstanding opportunity in a rapidly growing market, led by a seasoned team with a proven track record in European fintech.” We believe that Pemo is in a great place to play a pivotal role in helping SMEs in key markets in the Middle East, an area we are closely monitoring for growth opportunities. With our deep experience and knowledge in the fintech industry, we are excited to collaborate with Pemo as it scales, unlocks significant market possibilities through innovative expense management and corporate payments and dramatically accelerates the growth of SMEs within the rapidly maturing region.”
Co-Founder Pemo Ayham Gorani added, “We are super excited about this new funding and partnership. To this end, he noted, “We are committed to helping businesses save time and money, and with this new funding we are excited to continue to fortify our position further, enrich the content we offer to clients, and move into new geographies.” We’re delighted to have leading European fintech VC Augmentum Fintech alongside us, along with other fantastic investors who have a wealth of industry and market knowledge at their disposal. This will accelerate our growth and enable delivery of an even greater experience for our customers.
This fund round is a giant leap for Pemo as it looks to change the direction of business payment and expense management in the Middle East, allowing small and medium-sized enterprises to flourish in such an ever-changing economy.
