Dubai-based Ziva, Gen Z’s neobank plans to accelerate its growth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and begin expansion into Saudi Arabia and Egypt by raising $30 million (over $110 million) in seed funding. AED) evaluation. The new funding follows the $1 million in pre-seed funding it received in February this year.
Goodwater Capital, Dubai Future District Fund, Rebel Fund, Trampoline Venture Partners, Zemu VC, several prominent European family offices and strategic angel investors participated in the final round.
Ziva was founded in 2021 by Alok Kumar (CEO) and Nuha Hashem (CTO), inspired by their life experiences in the Gulf region, where they mainly used cash or their parents’ cards to pay. They created Zywa as a social banking app and prepaid card for Gen Z (ages 11-25) to receive, manage and make payments.
The app also provides convenience to parents as it allows them to send money to their children and track their spending and saving habits.
“Gen Z in the UAE spends AED 5B+ each year, and still relies on cash or their parents’ cards, despite having options at their parents’ banks such as add-on cards. While these options provide access to digital payments, they are not fundamentally designed for Gen Z, and this is where we add value,” Kumar said in a statement.
“We’re building Gen Z for Gen Z, and we aim to grow our product as they grow, which is the only financial services platform they need… The seed fund will help us focus on product, growth and strategic partnerships. We’re preparing to enter Saudi Arabia in early 2023, in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.” efforts in markets,” said Kumar.
Parents also use the app to send money to their children and track their spending and saving habits. Image creditsAlive
The strategic partnerships Ziva is exploring include working with schools to host workshops and increase exposure to their target customers. In addition to discount partnerships with brands popular with Gen Z, it also plans to partner with youth-led businesses to allow them to sell on the app.
Ziva also plans to introduce a social component to the app, allowing users to share photos or videos of their purchases and comment on their friends’ purchases on various feeds.
Fintech is adding community-based value-added services, such as an in-app platform for Ziva and partner startups to apply for internships, to encourage users to earn early. This is in addition to incorporating finance by rewarding those who save, budget and invest.
“Our reward system “Zems (Ziwa Gems) and Xion (Ziwa Coins)” rewards users for healthy financial practices and is currently used as a loyalty mechanism. After reaching user pool size (100,000+ users), “Zems and Zion” peer-to-peer With referrals, to buy items at your favorite stores and directly with merchants with tokens, we have added additional revenue streams by eliminating scheme participation in a closed loop,” Hashem told TechCrush.
Ziva earns through card transactions and merchant or brand partnerships.
