Upfront Secures $10 Million to Grow Financial Operating System for MENA SMBs

Dubai-based FinTech startup Upfront secured $10 million in a pre-seed round to grow its “next-generation financial operating system” for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The company will use the new funding for product development and to expand its engineering and go-to-market teams across the United Arab Emirates and soon Saudi Arabia, it said in a Wednesday (Oct. 1) press release.

Upfront’s platform is designed to eliminate SMBs’ cash flow inefficiencies by reducing days sales outstanding (DSO) and friction around cash flow, according to the release.

The platform integrates with accounting software and provides real-time financial analytics, automates receivables, orchestrates payments and unlocks working capital, per the release.

“Cash flow inefficiencies are one of the biggest growth bottlenecks for SMBs in MENA,” Upfront co-founder and CEO Anas Qudah said in the release. “We’re building financial infrastructure that gives these businesses real-time visibility, faster access to credit and tools that enable them to operate with more confidence and less manual overhead.”

Since its launch in May, Upfront has attracted regional and international investors and secured a partnership with embedded finance platform CredibleX that gives it more access to flexible capital structures to meet the liquidity needs of SMBs, according to the release.

Upfront’s pre-seed round was led by Palm Ventures and SABAH.fund, per the release.

Redwan Abudawood, general partner at Palm Ventures, said in the release that Upfront is “tackling foundational gaps in SMB financial infrastructure.”

Abbas Kazmi, co-founder and managing partner at SABAH.fund, said of Upfront: “Their innovative blend of revenue-based financing, payment orchestration and accounts receivable automation directly targets the critical liquidity issues choking business growth.”

Meanwhile, CredibleX raised $55 million in a seed round in December to grow and broaden its embedded finance solutions for the UAE’s SMB sector.

With its FinTech offerings, CredibleX can help any company that has SMBs, as its customers provide those SMBs with access to lending solutions. As of December, the firm had 37 embedded partners as well as debt/securitization providers.

In March, CredibleX said it would integrate Mastercard’s Small Business Credit Analytics into its embedded financing platform to improve financial inclusion for SMBs across the UAE.

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