Branded payments firm Recharge started operating in the GCC market after raising €10 million ($12.2m) in a debt funding round in March, the company said on Thursday.
Recharge launched its services in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, rolling out an Arabic website and customer support service. The company plans to expand to Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman in the coming months, Günther Vogelpoel, chief executive of the company, said.
Founded in 2010, the Amsterdam-headquartered company offers digital gift and prepaid cards that include Netflix and Spotify vouchers and digital coupons for brands and entities such as Google, Xbox, PlayStation. It has a portfolio of over 1,000 telecoms operators and merchants.
Entering the Gulf market "will serve as our stepping stone to enter Asia and Africa markets next year," Mr Vogelpoel told The National.
"We will offer a broader assortment of products … combining both global and local suppliers. There are many players in the GCC offering similar digital products. But we do not have any one dominant name … our aim is to become that dominant name in the region," he added.
Recharge offers a one-stop-shop marketplace for various categories of branded payments, including call credit, data bundles, shopping, entertainment, gaming and prepaid money.
The rising popularity of digital gift cards and top-ups is driven by many factors including high smartphone penetration, the rise of e-wallets and other alternative payment methods.
Digital payments are also thriving as users increasingly moved away from using cash during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Globally, digital payments are set to grow to $8.3 trillion in 2024, from $4.4tn last year, according to Statista. In the UAE, they have more than doubled over the last two years to $18.5 billion in 2020, according to digital payments company Stripe.
Recharge considers the Gulf market as one of the most potential markets and expects it to contribute significantly to its sales in the coming years. Today, more than 2.5 million people use Recharge to process over €450m of payments every year.
"This is a big bet for us … we want to be big in the GCC so we are putting in serious investments ... in terms of local partnerships, acquisitions, establishing new payment channels, localising the marketplace and expanding the product portfolio," said Mr Vogelpoel.
"Once we start getting good traction, we will invest … there is no dearth of funds," he said. The company plans to have a local office in either Saudi Arabia or the UAE that will serve as a hub to control its operations in Asia and Africa.
Recharge operates in over 150 markets around the world and processes millions of online transactions annually connecting customers with global brands.
Thus far, it has raised over €30m in primary, secondary and debt transactions from investors such as Prime Ventures, Kreos Capital and Rabobank. It plans to raise money from GCC investors in the future, Mr Vogelpoel said.
"We are a growing company. Looking at our plans and growth ambitions in 2022, we definitely want to raise more funding. We talk to a wide variety of investors in Europe, the UK and the US. We have also started discussion with investors in the GCC but they are at very initial stages," said Mr Vogelpoel.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
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- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Company%20profile
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Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness'
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg and Rachel McAdams
Rating: 3/5
Australia tour of Pakistan
March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi
March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi
March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore
March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi
March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi
April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi
April 5: T20I, Rawalpindi
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Ireland (15-1):
Ireland (15-1): Rob Kearney; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack Conan, Sean O'Brien, Peter O'Mahony; James Ryan, Quinn Roux; Tadhg Furlong, Rory Best (capt), Cian Healy
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Ultan Dillane, Josh van der Flier, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour
Coach: Joe Schmidt (NZL)
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
Vaccine Progress in the Middle East
