UAE’s leading financial institution, Mashreq has invested $10 million in fintech startup Cashew, becoming the latest to enter the booming ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) market.
Founded in 2020, UAE-based Cashew offers its services in the Emirates and Saudi Arabia through an app and a web-based platform.
As part of the investment, Cashew’s payment platform will be integrated as an option on the acquiring network of Neopay, the payments subsidiary of Mashreq. Further, it will support the startup to launch in Egypt in the last quarter of this year.
Ammar Afif Co-founder & CEO Cashew
“Mashreq is one of the most respected banking brands in the region, so they will bring our customers many benefits as we continue to grow our service offerings … this partnership will give consumers the largest merchant network to shop at, larger ticket size, and the ability to pay over longer terms. We can only accomplish these goals for our customers by partnering with respected financial institutions like Mashreq that understand and want to be a part of the growing BNPL segment.”
Mr. Ahmed Abdelaal, Group chief executive of Mashreq said that, “Our partnership with Cashew will lead the way for the future of financial services in the region. We’ll leverage the total community of Mashreq retailers and customers to offer our ecosystem with essentially the most ubiquitous and versatile BNPL choices available in the market.”
Under the partnership, Cashew and Mashreq will offer new products to the market including longer tenure and higher ticket size BNPL options for consumers, the companies said in a joint statement.
“They also plan to introduce point-of-sales lending options in the region later this year. It will allow consumers to opt for BNPL but with larger tenures such as six or 12 months,” as per the company.
“That is yet one more prime instance of the partnerships we can forge with revolutionary FinTech operators, who share our mission to ship a protected and seamless cost expertise for our prospects. We eagerly await the roll-out of additional providers as we proceed to empower our prospects with extra selection and comfort within the UAE and sooner or later, throughout Egypt,” commented Mr. Fernando Morillo, senior executive vice president and group head of retail banking at Mashreq.
