Dutch payments Fintech Recharge.com has expanded its services in the Middle East. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Fintech specializes in digital gift and prepaid cards for local and global brands like Netflix, Spotify, and Xbox. Recharge is now operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Recharge states that it will provide a one-stop-shop marketplace for various categories of branded payments, including call credit, data bundles, shopping, entertainment, gaming, and prepaid money.
Recharge recently raised €10 million in debt funding that is being utilized for international expansion. The company is looking for sales of €450 million – a 50% year-on-year growth in 2021.
Günther Vogelpoel, CEO of Recharge.com, issued the following statement:
“We are thrilled to be expanding our businesses offering in the GCC. This is an extremely attractive region for our e-commerce product offering, thanks to its large digital-native millennial and gen Z population and a surging demand for online gift cards and top-ups for many leading brands and services. In addition to a young population, over 40% of residents in GCC countries are global migrants with different work qualifications. Many don’t qualify to sign up for yearly subscription services, while others prefer to opt out of yearly contracts and not share personal details with brands, making Recharge.com’s proposition very appealing to this core audience. Serving this distinct population will not only enable us to grab significant market share in the region, but also help to build the foundations for our future expansion in other parts of Asia and Africa.”
Vogelpoel says that one of the company’s competitive advantages is its seamless, next-level user experience that takes in local preferences and requirements through its platform’s design and functionalities.
“When it comes to launching in the GCC, what sets us apart from other players is our mindset,” added Vogelpoel. “It’s not just an additional language and location in a drop-down menu for us — we want to truly serve the people in the region in the best way possible. We invested a lot of time and resources into proper localisation in many areas of the platform, including right-to-left (R2L) UX-UI design, content, payment methods and assortment. Our efforts reflect the importance of our GCC customers. They are truly central to our business model.”
