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Paymob, the Egypt-founded payments platform, has raised $35 million in a pre-Series C round co-led by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with British International Investment, Global Ventures and DPI Ventures also participating. The round, announced on 21 September 2026, takes Paymob’s total disclosed funding past $125 million, following a $50 million Series B in 2022 and a $22 million Series B extension led by EBRD in 2024.
Islam Shawky, Paymob’s co-founder and chief executive, said:
“Paymob morphed into a regional platform over the past 18 months, propelled by the exponential growth of our GCC business.”
The GCC shift behind the raise
Consolidated revenue across Paymob’s four markets, Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, tripled over the past 18 months, but GCC revenue specifically grew sevenfold over the same period and now sits close to half of the company’s total revenue. Since securing a UAE retail payment services licence in January 2025, Paymob has onboarded roughly 20,000 merchants across GCC markets, part of a total merchant base that has passed 390,000 across all four countries, accessing more than 60 payment methods through a single technology layer.
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Why Abu Dhabi capital specifically
Ali Eid Al Mheiri, executive director at Mubadala, said:
“Paymob’s expansion in the UAE aligns closely with our ambition under our MENA Venture Capital Fund, to support companies that strengthen the country’s digital economy.”
Bruno Lusic of the EBRD said:
“Paymob has built the payments infrastructure that MENA’s SME economy has been missing, a single, scalable layer that removes friction for merchants.”
Mubadala’s participation specifically, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth vehicle backing an Egypt-headquartered company via a fund built for regional venture capital, is itself part of the story: it reads as Abu Dhabi capital following Paymob’s business into the GCC, rather than a generic MENA growth bet.
What’s next
Paymob has not disclosed a valuation for this round, nor a specific timeline for the agentic commerce products the new capital is earmarked for alongside broader MENA expansion and SME-focused tools. Whether GCC revenue actually crosses 50% of the total in the next reporting period, or growth levels off as the market matures, is the concrete number worth tracking next.
FAQ
How much did Paymob raise and who led the round?
$35 million, co-led by Mubadala Investment Company and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
How much of Paymob’s revenue now comes from the GCC?
Nearly half, after GCC revenue grew sevenfold over the past 18 months.
How many merchants does Paymob serve?
More than 390,000 across Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, including roughly 20,000 onboarded in GCC markets since January 2025.
When did Paymob get its UAE payment licence?
January 2025, a retail payment services licence.
What is Paymob’s total funding to date?
More than $125 million, including this $35 million round, a $50 million Series B in 2022, and a $22 million Series B extension in 2024.
Editor’s Take: Paymob’s overall revenue tripled, but its GCC revenue grew more than twice as fast as that. A company can grow across four markets without any one of them changing its identity; Paymob’s GCC business growing enough to approach half of total revenue is a different thing, it’s starting to look less like an Egyptian payments company operating in the Gulf and more like a genuinely GCC-weighted business that happens to be headquartered in Cairo.
Mubadala’s presence in the round reinforces that reading. A MENA-focused venture fund backing a company because its Gulf business is scaling is a different signal than backing it purely for Egypt/MENA growth-story exposure, and Al Mheiri’s quote makes that framing explicit rather than incidental.