When Parathi Duraisamy He was an advisor to McKinsey’s Dubai office, he discovered that the American Express cards that his company relied on for corporate expenses were rarely accepted in the Middle East. This forced Duraisamy to cover significant travel expenses out of pocket and file endless spending reports.
“There was a constant pain,” Duraisamy explained in the call. “I would spend my weekends by uploading receipts, reconciling every expense manually.”
Now, Alaan, the company he has launched with munners McKinsey Karun Kurienis the main platform of the Middle East. It recently announced that it raised $ 48 million in series A -funding led by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & Sea) with the participation of others as founders of 885 Capital, Y Combinator, 468 Capital and Pioneer Fund.
Founders of some of Alaan’s unicorn clients, such as Hosam Arab (Tabby), Mudassir Sheikha (Carem), and Khalid Al America, known YouTuber in the area, also invested.
This is one of the biggest A – -roundtables for Fintech in the area, compared to Saud’s purchase now, pay a subsequent Tamara platform, which raised $ 110 million A few years ago.
“The category has proven a strong product market in the Mena region, and Alaan stands out as the category chief,” said GV Ravishankar, Director General at Peak XV. “Their centered and product and product mindset enabled them to build solutions tailored to modern financial teams.” (Peak XV also participated in a large B -round last month, backwards Proptech Huspy by UAE.)
Alaan’s road to a category guidance, however, were not without challenges.
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While Fintech earned a seed of $ 2.5 million in mid -2021, it was unable to launch almost a year, largely due to regulatory complexities and the need for bank partnerships in UAE. Its recent expansion to Saudi -Aarabia has presented similar obstacles, taking years to reach approvals from the country’s Apex Bank before finally launching this January.
“The biggest challenge we faced, both in the UAE and Saudi -Aarabia, simply lived,” the general manager shared.
However, Duraisamy said the Fintech was able to move quickly in other ways, as in Alaan’s innovative move to integrate Apple’s pay into their B2B offers, something previously unattainable to fund teams in the area.
At the beginning of 2023, the company also claimed to be the first in the Middle East to integrate Openai into its services, Move Duraisamy says that the company’s current product strategy. Initially, Alaan mined a chat boot, anticipating that users will enjoy conversation interactions about their expense. But the feature was unable to pull.
A lesson learned, the Fintech changed focus, realizing customers gained more value when AI worked in the background. Alaan has begun to use AI to help rationalize processes such as receipt compatibility, reconciliation and VAT -extract -especially a valuable use in the area, where the platform helps companies navigate complex VAT regulations and recovering tax.
The company claims that its spending management platform has already saved financial equipment more than 1.5 million hours of manual work. Its number ALAAN is expected to grow, as it continues to invest in automation.
Since launch in 2022, Alaan has processed more than 2.5 million transactions for more than 1,500 financial teams through major regional businesses, including G42, Carem, Tabby, and Lulu Group.
What’s more, the company benefits, Duraisamy says, noting that it spent $ 5 million to generate $ 10 million in revenue. Duraisamy credits YC and his mentors to encourage disciplinary approach in a market, where many finishes are focused on payment volumes.
Now Alaan is looking to replicate its growth in Saud -Aarabia, where it has launched earlier this year and has doubled transaction volumes a month for a month for the past six months, at the beginning.
The Series A will accelerate this expansion, allowing the company to scale employment through sales, success of customers and compliance, at the same time doubling down at AI-driven financial automation.
During the four-year Fintech, which equipment Mena-financial teams with AI Rating doubled this year after growing three rounds– plagued a role in investors betting big on Alaan.
“When you talk to investors, what is really important for a company at our stage are the foundations: how much capital-effect we are, how much revenue we generate, how strong our going market move is,” he said. “We are not in a market where you know that size is an advantage, such as the United States or Europe.
