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Tourists Can Now Use Their Home E-Wallets In The UAE
A new partnership between Ant Group, Astra Tech and G42 enables seamless transactions for visitors without the hassle of currency conversions.
Dubai-based technology investment company Astra Tech, backed by Abu Dhabi AI company G42, has partnered with Alibaba’s payment platform Ant Group to enable tourists in the United Arab Emirates to pay for goods and services using their home e-wallets.
The new service will help to avoid the hassle of currency conversion, integrating the Alipay cross-border payment platform with Astra Tech’s PayBy merchant network.
When the system goes live later this month, over 1.4 billion wallet users will be able to make seamless transactions in their home currencies in 3,000 retail establishments and make speedy payments for trips in Abu Dhabi’s fleet of 7,000 taxis.
“Our milestone collaboration with Alipay aligns perfectly with the UAE’s commitment to enhancing the payment ecosystem and fostering a commerce-friendly environment,” explained Abdallah Abu Sheikh, co-founder of Astra Tech and chief executive of Botim.
The new service will primarily cater to tourists from China, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Italy. However, anyone who signs up for an Alipay, MPay, Kakao Pay, GCash, TrueMoney, and Tinaba e-wallet can enjoy the service.
The Astra Tech and Ant Group partnership will facilitate speedy settlement processes and smooth mobile-based transactions through Alipay in physical and online settings. Meanwhile, both Alipay and PayBy plan to expand the service to further boost spending from Asian and European visitors.
Also Read: A Guide To Digital Payment Methods In The Middle East
“Our alliance with Astra Tech not only opens the doors to a seamless and integrated digital payment experience at physical stores in the Middle East, but also propels us towards a new era of strategic collaboration,” said Guoming Cheng, Ant Group’s general manager of Europe and the Middle East.
The UAE is the Middle East’s second-largest economy and has begun investing heavily to expand its tourism sector. In May, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, announced that tourism sector spending had risen 70% to Dh121 billion ($33 billion) in 2022 — the highest in the region.
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LUVED Is A New Curated Preloved Marketplace For The UAE
Sellers keep 100 percent of every sale and AI can build a listing in five seconds — though the app’s smartest tools are still coming.
Secondhand shopping has become mainstream in the UAE, but the experience is still scattered across resale sites, social media and informal group chats. LUVED, a mobile-first marketplace that launched in Dubai this month, is betting it can pull that activity into one place — and that the thing buyers and sellers actually want is not more inventory, but trust.
The app trades in what it calls circular luxury: preloved fashion and lifestyle pieces across men’s, women’s and children’s categories, bought, sold or given away peer to peer. Its main pitch is economics, with sellers keeping 100 percent of every sale under a zero-commission, fast payout model, while buyers are promised vetted pieces at lower prices.
Where LUVED is staking its reputation is verification. Sellers pass a KYC check, and items run through a two-layer authentication system powered by Entrupy that pairs instant AI screening with human expert review for high-value pieces. Authenticity certificates travel with each item, payments sit in escrow, and a buyer-protection package the company calls The Safety Net adds a 48-hour return window and dispute resolution. Door-to-door logistics removes the in-person meetups that make most resale deals awkward.
An in-app assistant called Luvbot — offering selling insights and demand-based recommendations — is soon to be introduced to the platform. Other features include autofill and dynamic pricing that lets users build a listing in as little as five seconds from three photos, plus a swipe-based feed, story-style drops and in-app chat in English and Arabic. Finally, a gifting layer, Luved & Gifted, lets users pass items to others inside the app rather than sell them.
Also Read: Logitech’s New Folding Mouse Is Designed For Work On The Go
“After moving to Dubai, I saw how difficult it was to sell or even give things away,” says founder and CEO Shaima Sibtain. The friction is real, and so is the competition. In resale, trust is won transaction by transaction — and that is the test LUVED has set itself.
The app is live on the App Store now, with Google Play to follow. The company also plans to expand across the region, which will be the real test for a marketplace staking everything on trust.
