GITEX - Fintech Xpence empowers MENAP businesses

Xpence — the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAP) region’s first and only financial management platform with embedded business banking solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It recently announced the launch of its expense management solution and cards in the UAE via a partnership with Visa, at the Gitex Global technology conference in Dubai, which ended on Friday.

The Middle East is considered a global leader in digital transformation, with near 100 per cent internet penetration in many markets and record funding of tech start-ups across the region. Yet many SMEs still face challenges in opening bank accounts for their new businesses or digitising financial processes — presenting a major barrier for innovation and growth.

Saad Ansari, co-founder and CEO of Xpence, explained that the idea for Xpence was first born in Abu Dhabi in February 2018. Following almost a year of developing the idea for a consumer-focused neobank, with the aim of banking the millions of unbanked in the GCC region, Ansari noticed that many start-up founders were approaching them to ask if they could open bank accounts. This is when he decided to pivot from the idea of a consumer neobank, to a SME financial management platform with embedded banking solutions.

With Xpence, businesses can also set individual spending controls and limits on each card, while real‐time monitoring and automated bookkeeping eliminate the need for tedious expense reports, promote efficiency and can help businesses save money.

To date, Ansari has bootstrapped the growth of Xpence, with just $5 (Dh18.37) million in funding, yet it's already made significant strides in its expansion across multiple markets. Its launch in the UAE is the second of five strategic markets it plans to enter over the next 18 months.

Xpence is working with regulators in key markets across the MENAP region, and is legally incorporated in Bahrain, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — with others in the pipeline. Demand for its solutions is also significant, with over 2,000 companies currently on the waiting list.