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UAE Fintech Qashio Raises $19.8M For Regional Expansion

The Dubai-based fintech will use the cash injection to expand its B2B spend management platform and loyalty program across the MENA and Europe.

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uae fintech qashio raises $19.8 million for regional expansion

Dubai-headquartered fintech Qashio has raised $19.8 million in its latest funding round, paving the way for continued geographic expansion and growth of its industry-leading B2B loyalty ecosystem. Already operating in 22 countries — including the UAE, Europe, and the UK — the company will use the new capital to support its imminent entry into Saudi Arabia and strengthen regulatory compliance.

The funding, comprising equity and non-equity sources, was led by existing Silicon Valley-based investor Rocketship. Qashio’s consistent growth, demonstrated by over 800% year-on-year revenue increases for three consecutive years, reflects the platform’s rising dominance in B2B expense management solutions.

In addition to Rocketship, several existing investors including ABN Ventures, MITAA, and Oneway VC reaffirmed their support. The round also welcomed strategic new backers, such as Luxembourg-based MoreThan Capital, prominent regional banks, and several family offices from across the region.

“We invested in Qashio because of their bold vision to modernize spend management in the Middle East, a region ripe for financial innovation,” said Sailesh Ramakrishnan, Managing Partner at Rocketship. “They’re not just solving a pain point, but transforming how companies operate and scale”.

Unlike traditional corporate cash back programs, Qashio’s loyalty network uniquely features premium partners like Emirates, Air France, KLM, Avios (British Airways, Iberia, Finnair), US Airways, and elite hotel groups including Jumeirah One, Accor, and IHG Intercontinental Hotel Group. These high-value rewards differentiate Qashio from competitors, enhancing its appeal to businesses that previously had limited access to such exclusive benefits.

Also Read: Dubai’s PRYPCO Mint Is MENA’s First Tokenized Real Estate Project

“At Qashio, we understand change often meets resistance, especially when shifting from manual processes,” said Armin Moradi, CEO and Co-founder. “Our loyalty program is designed to reward positive financial management behaviors with meaningful incentives like air miles and hotel points — rewards that are typically hard to obtain. Coupled with transparent pricing, lowest cross-border fees, and unmatched cashbacks without restrictive conditions, we empower businesses to embrace streamlined financial management”.

With profitability achieved — earning over $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2025 — Qashio’s fresh capital infusion positions the fintech leader to further accelerate its ambitious growth across MENA and into European markets.

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Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

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visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.

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