Company Overview
About Ziina
Ziina is a Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based fintech company providing instant peer-to-peer payments, business payment links, and embedded payment infrastructure for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region — enabling consumers and businesses to send and receive money using only a phone number, email, or payment link without requiring bank account details. Founded in 2020 by Faisal Toukan, Andrew Gold, and Sarah Toukan and backed by Y Combinator (W21) with $30.85 million raised including a $22 million Series A in September 2024 led by Altos Ventures with participation from Avenir Growth, COTU Ventures, and others, Ziina achieved $300 million in annualized payment volume in 2024 with 10x revenue growth and 5 million+ transactions processed serving 50,000+ active users.
Business Model & Competitive Advantage
Ziina's payment architecture addresses the fragmentation of MENA financial infrastructure: the region's payment rails are fragmented across country-specific bank transfer systems (UAE's UAEFTS, Saudi's SARIE), card networks, and cash — making simple money transfers between friends or from customer to business more friction-heavy than modern P2P apps in the US or Europe. Ziina's mobile wallet enables instant transfers to any phone number regardless of which bank the recipient uses — similar to Venmo or Zelle but built for the UAE's regulatory environment and Arabic language. The business product (payment links, QR codes, embedded checkout) enables small businesses and freelancers to accept digital payments without card terminals or merchant accounts.
Competitive Landscape 2025–2026
In 2025, Ziina competes in the MENA digital payments market with PayTabs (Saudi/UAE payments infrastructure), Tabby (buy-now-pay-later, $200M+ raised), and Tamara (BNPL, Saudi Arabia) for regional digital payment adoption. Central bank digital currency pilots (UAE's mBridge project) and the UAE's Vision 2031 cashless economy targets create regulatory tailwinds for P2P payment adoption. Ziina's Y Combinator backing and Silicon Valley investor base provides product development velocity and credibility with the UAE's technology entrepreneur community. The 2025 strategy focuses on deepening UAE market penetration, expanding into Saudi Arabia (the region's largest economy), and building the API platform that lets MENA startups embed Ziina's payment infrastructure into their own applications.
Recent Activity
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Emerging Innovator
Ziina is an emerging player bringing innovative solutions to the Finance market.
Frequently Asked Questions
Estimated Visibility Trend (Beta)
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