EMEA Daily: FOO Launches in Saudi Arabia

In today’s top stories from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, FinTech provider FOO expands into Saudi Arabia to help that country with its digital transformation.

Also, Saudi Arabia’s RedBox raises $5 million to help its Middle Eastern expansion efforts, and Egyptian health platform Esaal raises $1.7 million in seed funding.

B2B FinTech FOO Expands Into Saudi Arabia

B2B FinTech provider FOO said it is expanding its operations into Saudi Arabia in an effort to help that country with its digital transformation.

FOO works with banks and retailers in the Middle East and North Africa to create digital products to boost business models and customer experience, such as remittances, digital wallets, tokenized transactions and buy now, pay later.

The expansion comes as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is exploring digital transformation in all sectors, especially finance. FOO’s efforts will target digital banking, blockchain-based central bank digital currencies, virtual cards, and tokenization.

Embedded Finance FinTech Alviere Inks Deal With Card Issuer Marqeta

Embedded finance FinTech Alviere has teamed up with card issuer Marqeta to offer expanded financial services to businesses in Europe.

The partnership comes as Alviere is attempting to attract more business in Europe. Collaborating with Marqeta will provide central services to drive the growth and advanced financial services to the continent.

“Access to financial services is continuing to evolve, and consumers are constantly opening up to new ways of moving, storing, spending and saving money,” said Yuval Brisker, Alviere co-founder and CEO. “For brands in Europe, and around the world, providing financial services means uncovering vast untapped opportunities.”

Verv Launches Multicurrency Banking Solution for Businesses

Verv has launched multi-currency business accounts, a tool that lets companies in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the U.K. receive, pay and hold funds in multiple currencies.

The company said this allows businesses to use the same name, account number and SWIFT code for all currencies. In addition, companies that trade globally will be able to manage an account for all their global payments.

“Verv’s new business multi-currency accounts allow EEA- and U.K.-registered entities to enjoy a full scope of business account services under one platform,” said Stavros Psyllos, commercial director at Verv. “With quick and hassle-free onboarding procedures, an account can be opened swiftly and painlessly.”

Saudi Parcel Locker Firm RedBox Notches $5M in Series A

Saudi Arabian smart parcel locker provider RedBox is looking to expand following a $5 million Series A financing round.

The company, which as no relation to the movie rental/streaming service, works with last-mile services and lets customers collect shipments from lockers in 18 cities throughout Saudi Arabia. It also offers instant return services.

MENA Health Platform Esaal Raises $1.7M

Esaal, an Egypt-based online health and wellness platform for people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has concluded a $1.7 million seed funding round.

As the company said in a news release, Esaal will use the funds to “scale its expansion across the MENA region, invest in product and brand development, and increase talent acquisition.”

Esaal’s offerings include physical health, mental health and nutrition consultations with professionals through text and video and voice calls, as well as in-person home visits.