Saudi fintech Hala has acquired UAE payments startup Paymennt.com, an online payment processor for micro and small businesses.
Paymennt.com, previously called PointCheckout and established in 2017, serves more than 2,000 micro and small businesses from its offices in the UAE and Jordan. The company, which is regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Market’s RegLab, is reporting year-over-year growth of 250% in payment processing volumes, spurred on by the global pandemic.
Hala, which serves more than 50,000 SMB’s, primarily in Saudi Arabia, and processes more than $3 billion in transactions per year, says the acquisition will give it the ability to incorporate online payments into its platform, providing an omnichannel offering for its growing client base.
Maher Loubieh, co-founder, Hala says: “This is our first endeavor outside our homeland and is the first block towards executing our global vision. We believe integrating the offering of Paymennt.com with that of Hala will provide a major added-value for our customers in Saudi and in UAE.”
This is the second acquisition for Hala since its inception in 2018. In 2021, the firm acquired Saudi POS startup Fresh, an Android-based smart ERP system for store management designed for the retail sector of small and medium enterprises.