Latest news with #spendmanagement
Wamda
3 days ago
- Business
- Wamda
Qashio closes $19.8 million round to accelerate expansion into Saudi Arabia
UAE-based fintech Qashio has raised $19.8 million in a mix of equity and non-equity funding, led by existing investor Rocketship VC, with participation from MoreThan Capital, regional banks, and family offices. Founded in 2021 by Armin Moradi, Qashio offers a spend management platform that enables businesses to gain full visibility and control of their expenses. It claims to be the first fintech startup in the UAE to issue corporate employee cards. The company will use the capital to expand into Saudi Arabia and deepen its market-leading B2B loyalty programme across MENA. In 2022, Qashio closed a $10 million seed round. Press release: Qashio, the Dubai-headquartered B2B spend management platform with operations and clients in 22 countries, including the UAE, Europe, the UK, and soon Saudi Arabia, has raised $19.8 million in its latest funding round. The capital will support further geographic expansion and scale what is already the largest B2B fintech loyalty programme in the MENA region. Despite achieving profitability with over $1.2M in Q1 2025, the additional funds will enhance regulatory compliance ahead of the company's entry into Saudi Arabia and further extend its differentiated loyalty offering. Unlike typical cashback programmes, Qashio's impressive Tier 1 partner network includes Emirates, Air France, KLM, Avios (British Airways, Iberia, Finnair), US Airways, and top hotel groups such as Jumeirah One, Accor, and IHG Intercontinental Hotel Group—benefits often unavailable to businesses through other expense management platforms. Category-Defining Momentum with a Superior and Scalable Product Suite The fundraising round, which consists of both equity and non-equity financing, was led by existing investor Rocketship, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. 'We invested in Qashio because of their bold vision to modernise spend management in the Middle East, a region ripe for financial innovation. Their rapidly growing customer base positions them as a category-defining company in the GCC's digital transformation journey. We're proud to back a team that's not just solving a pain point but transforming how companies across the region operate and grow,' said Sailesh Ramakrishnan, Managing Partner at Rocketship. With over 800% YoY revenue growth for the third consecutive year, Qashio has proven its ability to scale with discipline. Several existing investors have reaffirmed their confidence by following on their previous commitments, such as ABN Ventures, MITAA, and Oneway VC. The round also welcomed new strategic investors, such as Luxembourg-based European fund MoreThan Capital, major regional banks in MENA, and regional family offices from each market. 'MoreThan Capital chose to invest in Qashio due to its exceptional growth trajectory since launching from beta in 2022, its seasoned founding team, and its superior product suite—which is both broader and more advanced than regional competitors. Qashio's relentless innovation aligns with our vision, and we see tremendous potential in their MENA expansion strategy as well as their international ambitions. Their unique value proposition positions them strongly for success in the MENA as well as the European market, and we're excited to support their journey with 'more than' capital," says Caroline Kracht, Managing Partner at MoreThan Capital. Supporting Finance Teams and SMEs with Industry-Focused Solutions Qashio has invested heavily in developing purpose-built products that support the financial health of its clients, from SMEs with five employees to global enterprises with strict compliance and security requirements; Qashio caters to them all. Its solutions are tailored to each industry, with custom offerings that reflect local and vertical-specific requirements. For firms with highly sensitive operations such as law practices, consulting firms, and government entities, as well as specialised sectors like travel, hospitality, retail, and high-volume e-commerce companies, Qashio offers customised corporate cards and embedded financial microservices to support operational efficiency. 'At Qashio we have learnt that change often comes with resistance. We are committed to helping the companies that place their trust in us move away from the manual finance processes that slow them down. That's why we built and continue to evolve our loyalty programme—to reward the right behaviour with incentives such as air miles and hotel points that are otherwise difficult to obtain. We also offer the lowest cross-border fees and the highest cashbacks delivered transparently without lockdown periods and clawbacks because every business drives behaviour in their own way,' says Armin Moradi, CEO and co-founder of Qashio.
Zawya
3 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
UAE-born global fintech Qashio raises $19.8mln to scale regional expansion and B2B loyalty ecosystem
Dubai, UAE: Qashio, the Dubai-headquartered B2B spend management platform with operations and clients in 22 countries, including the UAE, Europe, the UK, and soon Saudi Arabia, has raised $19.8 million in its latest funding round. The capital will support further geographic expansion and scale what is already the largest B2B fintech loyalty program in the MENA region. Despite achieving profitability with over $1.2M in Q1 2025, the additional funds will enhance regulatory compliance ahead of the company's entry into Saudi Arabia and further extend its differentiated loyalty offering. Unlike typical cashback programs, Qashio's impressive Tier 1 partner network includes Emirates, Air France, KLM, Avios (British Airways, Iberia, Finnair), US Airways, and top hotel groups such as Jumeirah One, Accor, and IHG Intercontinental Hotel Group—benefits often unavailable to businesses through other expense management platforms. Category-Defining Momentum with a Superior and Scalable Product Suite The fundraising round, which consists of both equity and non-equity financing, was led by existing investor Rocketship, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. 'We invested in Qashio because of their bold vision to modernize spend management in the Middle East, a region ripe for financial innovation. Their rapidly growing customer base positions them as a category-defining company in the GCC's digital transformation journey. We're proud to back a team that's not just solving a pain point, but transforming how companies across the region operate and grow' said Sailesh Ramakrishnan - Managing Partner at Rocketship. With over 800% YoY revenue growth for the third consecutive year, Qashio has proven its ability to scale with discipline. Several existing investors have reaffirmed their confidence by following on their previous commitments such as ABN Ventures, MITAA, and Oneway VC. The round also welcomed new strategic investors, such as Luxembourg-based European fund MoreThan Capital, major regional banks in MENA, and regional family offices from each market. 'MoreThan Capital chose to invest in Qashio due to its exceptional growth trajectory since launching from beta in 2022, its seasoned founding team, and its superior product suite —which is both broader and more advanced than regional competitors. Qashio's relentless innovation aligns with our vision, and we see tremendous potential in their MENA expansion strategy as well as their international ambitions. Their unique value proposition positions them strongly for success in the MENA as well as European market, and we're excited to support their journey with 'more than' capital" says Caroline Kracht - Managing Partner at MoreThan Capital. Supporting Finance Teams and SMEs with Industry-Focused Solutions Qashio has invested heavily in developing purpose-built products that support the financial health of its clients, from SMEs with five employees to global enterprises with strict compliance and security requirements, Qashio caters to them all. Its solutions are tailored to each industry, with custom offerings that reflect local and vertical-specific requirements. For firms with highly sensitive operations such as law practices, consulting firms, and government entities, as well as specialized sectors like travel, hospitality, retail, and high-volume e-commerce companies, Qashio offers customized corporate cards and embedded financial microservices to support operational efficiency. 'At Qashio we have learned that change often comes with resistance. We are committed to helping the companies that place their trust in us move away from the manual finance processes that slow them down. That's why we built and continue to evolve our loyalty program—to reward the right behavior with incentives such as air miles and hotel points that are otherwise difficult to obtain. We also offer the lowest cross-border fees and the highest cashbacks delivered transparently without lockdown periods and clawbacks, because every business drives behavior in their own way,' says Armin Moradi, CEO and Co-founder of Qashio. About Qashio Qashio is the largest and most comprehensive expense management platform in the region, operating with a global footprint. It is the first and only expense management company in MENA with an in-house-built loyalty program, and currently operates the largest B2B loyalty ecosystem in the region. With specialized cards designed for industry-specific use cases and embedded financial microservices, Qashio maintains its leadership position as both market leader and category pioneer. Founded in Dubai in 2021, the company now serves thousands of users daily across 22 countries with locally issued cards in each region and also provides multi-currency cards for certain industries within the UAE.
Finextra
20-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Brex and Zip bid to transform the modern enterprise financial stack
Brex, the modern finance platform, and Zip, the world's leading procurement orchestration platform, today announced Brex for Zip – a groundbreaking solution that seamlessly integrates Brex's global card capabilities directly into Zip's procurement workflows. 0 This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. This category defining partnership delivers end-to-end spend orchestration that eliminates the traditional disconnect between procurement requests and payment execution. This enables enterprises to accelerate purchasing, prevent unauthorized spend, and gain complete visibility across their procurement and spend lifecycle. In today's climate of economic uncertainty, companies need more than outdated procurement and spend management tools to control costs—especially for high-volume, one-off purchases that are hard to track. In most organizations, procurement and payment still operate in silos, managed by separate teams using disconnected systems. This creates unnecessary friction (like setting up a new vendor for a single payment), limited controls (as with traditional credit cards), and lightweight tools that break down at scale. These gaps compound quickly, creating blind spots that lead to unexpected costs, missed savings, and increased risk of non-compliance. Brex for Zip solves these challenges by embedding Brex virtual cards directly into Zip's platform, allowing businesses to make secure vendor payments at every stage of the procurement process – from initial request to purchase order to invoice payment – while maintaining rigorous controls and complete traceability and reconciliation throughout the entire procurement lifecycle. Together, Brex and Zip serve more than 30,000 of the world's most forward-thinking companies, including Anthropic, BetterUp, Carta, Coinbase, eToro, Neuralink, Gong, Wiz, Zapier, and more. "As a longtime customer of both Brex and Zip, we've experienced firsthand how each platform has transformed our financial operations and procurement processes respectively," said Adam Dix, Head of Financial Operations at Anthropic. "The integration of these two best-in-class solutions is exactly what we've been waiting for. Bringing together Brex's powerful global card capabilities with Zip's intuitive procurement workflows will eliminate the manual reconciliation work that currently consumes hours of our team's time each week. We're excited to be among the first to implement this game-changing solution." Brex for Zip gives enterprises the ability to: Streamline procurement and payment workflows: Issue Brex virtual cards directly within Zip across intake, PO, and invoices for faster, one-time payments with automated reconciliation. Eliminate unnecessary vendor onboarding for ad-hoc purchases and reduce procurement cycles by cutting out manual payment processes. Prevent unauthorized spend before it happens: Assign unique Brex virtual cards to each request with transaction-level limits, all while enforcing compliance through Zip's procurement controls. Real-time visibility eliminates the risk of duplicate payments, fraud, or policy violations – going far beyond basic card-level controls offered by traditional spend management solutions. Simplify global operations with a single card program: Make payments in over 30+ currencies and time-consuming intercompany transfers. This enterprise-grade global capability scales Zip's global payments product, enabling multinational enterprises to standardize complex procurement and payment processes worldwide. Maximize working capital from procurement spend: Transition vendor payments from ACH to Brex global cards within Zip to gain greater flexibility over payment timing while earning valuable rewards on everyday procurement spend, and save on FX fees. "At Brex, our goal is to empower businesses to spend smarter and move faster. Brex for Zip represents a significant leap forward in achieving that goal by creating a truly unified ecosystem and removing barriers for both finance and procurement leaders—helping them stay more connected than ever," said Pedro Franceschi, CEO of Brex. "By directly integrating Brex's global card into Zip's procurement platform, we're eliminating the friction of outdated systems and giving businesses the visibility, control, and speed they need." "At Zip, we are committed to pushing the boundaries of what is possible with procurement technology so that we can empower finance and procurement leaders to mitigate risk, drive growth, and increase control over spend – at a time when doing so has never been more critical," said Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder and CEO of Zip. "Whether you're a high-growth startup or one of the world's largest companies, Brex for Zip delivers a truly unified experience that brings Brex's powerful global card capabilities directly into Zip's powerful procurement workflows to help businesses of all sizes navigate today's economic challenges with enhanced efficiency and control." "We're proud to see two top Y Combinator companies come together to raise the bar for enterprise finance. At YC, we use both Brex and Zip, and have seen firsthand how they dramatically streamline financial operations and procurement. This integration represents the kind of innovation we encourage at YC — solving real problems for customers," said Dalton Caldwell, Managing Partner at Y Combinator. Brex for Zip is built on Brex Embedded, an API-driven payments solution that enables B2B software vendors to integrate Brex virtual cards directly into their platforms. This integration allows joint customers to make fast, secure global payments in virtually any currency while automating reconciliation and maintaining robust controls.
National Post
14-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
Procurify Launches AI-Powered Spend Insights to Supercharge Visibility and Drive Smarter Decisions
Article content Powered by AI, Spend Insights gives finance leaders up-to-date visibility into purchasing, expenses, and accounts payable to drive faster, smarter decisions. Article content Article content VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Procurify, the AI-powered spend management platform for the mid-market, today announced Spend Insights, a new analytics feature that empowers finance and procurement teams to make faster, smarter decisions by turning spend data into actionable intelligence. By centralizing company-wide spend data and layering in AI-powered analysis, Spend Insights delivers up-to-date visibility into purchasing, expenses, and accounts payable — helping leaders uncover trends, flag anomalies, and control spend with confidence. Article content This launch builds on Procurify's momentum following the release of its standalone Expense and Card module. Together, these innovations form a flexible, modular platform that adapts to growing organizations without sacrificing control, ease of use, or speed of implementation. Article content 'Spend Insights shows what's possible when you bring AI and analytics together,' said Chad Gaydos, CEO of Procurify. 'It extends our use of AI across the entire spend lifecycle — from extracting data from receipts, contracts, and invoices, to surfacing up-to-date insights that drive smarter, faster decisions. This is the future of agile finance — and we're building it today.' Article content Spend Insights combines interactive dashboards with a conversational AI assistant, Spend Analyst, allowing users to query and understand their data using natural language prompts. With instant access to spend data across purchasing, expenses, and AP, teams can quickly surface trends, catch anomalies early, and act with greater speed and confidence, without waiting on reports or juggling disconnected tools. Article content 'This launch is another step forward in putting customer needs at the center of everything we do,' said Gaydos. 'We're delivering an AI-powered platform that's easy to adopt, built to scale, and designed for the needs of every growing organization — giving finance teams the clarity to make strategic savings, cut unnecessary spend, and turn their spend into a strength.' Article content To help organizations get even more value from Spend Insights, Procurify released the 2025 Procurement Benchmark Report: a first-of-its-kind analysis built from over $20B in proprietary customer spend data. The report provides finance and operations leaders with benchmarking across 11 key procurement KPIs, helping them identify and prioritize opportunities for improvement. Article content Spend Insights is now rolling out to all Procurify customer accounts, with Spend Analyst in beta. Article content Procurify is the leading AI-powered spend management platform built for mid-market organizations. We empower businesses to take full control of their company spending — across procurement, expense, AP, and payments — driving cost savings, operational efficiency, and smarter decisions. Article content With a modular approach, ease of use, and real-time data across every workflow, Procurify brings simplicity to spend management. Ranked the #1 Mid-Market Purchasing Software by G2, Procurify is trusted by organizations across all industries, managing over $30 billion USD in spend. Article content Article content Article content Article content
