Saudi Arabia-based financial technology (fintech) startup NearPay, has raised a $600,000 (SAR 2.2 million) pre-seed round, led by Saudi angel investor Musaab Hakami alongside other angel investors.

Founded in early 2020, NearPay offers an NFC technology-enabled point-of-sale (POS) software solution for small businesses, enabling merchants to accept customer payments directly on their phones. NFC technology constitutes 79 per cent of POS payments in the Kingdom, according to the latest reports issued by the Saudi Payments Company. 

“The Saudi market has a great opportunity to enter and expand into the field of financial technologies, and by doing so, this will help in achieving our goals in the coming year," said Muhammad Al-Aiban, CEO of NearPay.

The startup recently obtained the Visa Tap on Phone certification.