Messaging & payment app NayaPay raises $13M in its largest seed round

Messaging & payment app NayaPay raises $13M in its largest seed round

NayaPay, a fintech company based in Pakistan, has reportedly secured $13 million through a seed round funding to launch its multi-service payment and messaging app, and also develop financial management and payment acceptance tools for the country’s businesses.

Danish Lakhani, NayaPay’s founder, and CEO stated that the multi-service application allows users living in Pakistan to receive and transfer money, make payments, and split bills effortlessly via smartphones.

The company has also rolled out physical and virtual cards that are linked to the NayaPay wallet, allowing businesses to receive payments as well as users to make POS payments.

The seed round was led by Zayn Capital, an early-stage VC based in Silicon Valley, MSA Novo – a London-based investment firm, and Graph Ventures. Waleed Saigol's Maple Leaf Capital, Singapore’s Saison Capital, Empower Finances CEO Warren Hogarth, as well as Lakson Group sponsors.

Apparently, the seed round is the biggest seed financing raised in the entire South Asian market, effectively leapfrogging Tag, the financial and banking platform, which secured $12 million last year.

Lakhani stated that NayaPay aims to transform digital payment in Pakistan, a cash-heavy economy, where just 1% of $4 trillion transactions are done online. However, the company’s ambitions are considerably bigger, it aims to bank millions of individuals that are unbanked, with women constituting a majority of this demographic.

NayaPay currently has all the necessary licenses, along with the State Bank of Pakistan's E-Money Institution license.

The firm aims to reach 5 million users and increase the number of digital transactions within the next five years, which Lakhani claims will influence other industries such as e-commerce as more individuals use the NayaPay wallet to conduct cashless transactions.

They also intend to launch more digital financial services in the future, such as lending and investing.

NayaPay aims to expand the platform to allow them to invest in money market funds, stock trading, as well as other digital assets.

Source credit: https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/23/nayapay-secures-13-million-largest-seed-funding-in-south-asia-for-its-messaging-and-payment-app/