The company is waiting for its license from the regulator
Islamabad- based fintech SadaPay raised $7.2 million in a seed round. Pakistan’s largest seed round was led by New York-based Recharge Capital. Other investors include Kingsway Capital, Raptor Group, and Ualá’s founder Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ribbit Capital’s Brian McGrath, former General Catalyst partner Ilan Stern, and Valon Technologies’ founder Andrew Wang. The fintech plans to offer debit cards and digital wallets before starting a full-fledged bank.
Sadapay is waiting to receive a full Electronic Money Institution license from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) after which it will start its public rollout. The company didn’t share a timeline for the license but the founder Brandon Timinsky expects to receive clearance after successful completion of the audit and inspection from the SBP.
Brandon started SadaPay in 2019 after visiting the country on a friend’s invitation. He was surprised by the potential opportunities in the country with a population of 220 million. “My first visit to Pakistan really opened my eyes to the amount of opportunity that has been hidden from the rest of the world due to the country’s difficult history from over a decade ago,” Brandon said in an interview.
Brandon feels that the country is at the brink of digitization, “Pakistan has a refreshingly progressive regulator, a burgeoning unbanked middle class, widespread smartphone adoption, and over 70% of the population is under the age of 35. We believe that a combination of factors makes Pakistan one of the best places for emerging fintech in the world, and we are excited to be a leader in that ecosystem,” he added.
Sadapay is quickly growing with already 200,000 pre-sign ups for their digital wallet. The company has also hired some of the well-known names in the industry as it gets closer to receiving a nod from the regulator. Such fintechs are the need of the country to move forward with the digital economy and compete with other countries.