By Alicia Maher
NayaPay, a digital payment platform based in Pakistan announced that it raised $13 million in a funding round in its bid to expand its payment services in the country. According to a release by the company, there is a massive gap in digital payments products delivery in the country and the funding round was aimed at meeting the demand.
The funding attracted some major institutional investors such as Zayn Capital which led the funding. Other participating angel investors are global players such as MSA Novo, Saison Capital, a company based in Singapore and the CEO of Empower Finance, Warren Hogarth.
The company stated that the essence of the funding is to increase its reach within the country as well as initiate a multi-messaging payment app that enables financial management of assets by users. The platform will also integrate a payment acceptance tool for businesses in the country.
A Convenient Payment System
NayaPay issues a physical card, backed by Visa which is linked to its NayaPay wallet. The platform enables its users to send and receive funds through its super-app that supports splitting of bills. Its attraction to Pakistanis stems from the convenience of doing all these on the go with their smartphones.
Speaking on the funding round, the CEO of NayaPay, Danish Lakhani said that users of the app are enabled to make POS payments while merchants can accept digital payments via the portal. Lakhani said that the firm is the leading payment processing company in Pakistan and that the funding has brought it a notch closer to its vision of revolutionizing the payment system in the country. He added that Pakistan, being a cash-heavy economy, is a big market for fintechs considering that just 1% of its $4 trillion payments are transmitted electronically.
Reaching The Unbanked in Pakistan
According to available data, Pakistan’s population is currently 220 million with a large percentage of the populace unbanked. The NayaPay CEO maintained that the company’s vision is to reach out to the demographic, especially women of whom only 30% have access to banking services.
Lakhani said that another challenge facing the country’s payment system is the inability of the country’s freelance community to gain full access to the traditional suite of banking tools. A World Bank report says that 100 million people do not have access to banking services in the South Asian country.
The State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s central bank recently approved an e-money license for NayaPay, making the company the premier fintech to gain such an approval that enables it to process digital payments in the country.
Since its licensing, NayaPay has pushed for widespread adoption of digital payment in the country through its services. It plans to onboard millions of users that do not have access to traditional banking services.
The NayaPay CEO said that there is a significant lag between consumer banking expectations and what is available in Pakistan. He stated that this is the reason why his company is collaborating with others with similar vision to fill the gaps in financial services in the country. Lakhani said that the objective of the company is to ensure accessibility to its services while making sure that customers utilize their platform cheaply and securely.