X-ERA and Paymob Enable Digital B2B Payments for Egyptian Merchants

X-ERA and Paymob have partnered to help Egyptian merchants make digital B2B payments.

The collaboration brings together Paymob’s payment acceptance technology and X-ERA’s mobile app for ordering fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), the companies said in a Monday (Jan. 23) press release.

“Digitizing B2B payments is key to the overall value chain, and we are proud to power X-ERA’s digital payments acceptance for its merchants,” Paymob Chief Commercial Officer Gillan Shaaban said in the release. “With this partnership, underserved merchants and grocers who lack access to traditional bank-offered financial services can now actively participate in the digital economy.”

Much of Egypt’s trade system still operates offline and with cash.

Another Egyptian B2B eCommerce marketplace for the FMCG space, Cartona, raised $12 million in Series A funding in July to extend its footprint and expand its offerings.

The Egyptian retail market totals $120 billion and is hungry for B2B technology platforms and embedded financial service offerings, one of the investors in Cartona — Silicon Badia Founding Managing Partner Namek T. Zu’bi — said at the time.

In October, Cairo-based eCommerce and distribution business MaxAB closed a $40 million pre-Series B funding round to fuel its expansion across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP) region.

MaxAB CEO and Co-founder Belal El-Megharbel said at the time that the company aims to consolidate the informal food and grocery sector and expand to new markets in the region.

With the new end-to-end solution from Paymob and X-ERA, Egyptian grocers and small retailers — many of whom have only been able to pay for B2B purchases with cash upon delivery — will be able to use credit cards, digital wallets and other types of payments, according to the Monday press release.

They will also be able to pay their utility and telecom bills by the same methods, per the release.

“This cooperation aligns with X-ERA strategy to redevelop Egypt’s informal commercial market, by providing a package of diversified FinTech tools and payment solutions to small grocers, corner shops, small- and medium-sized merchants in different governorates throughout Egypt,” X-ERA CEO Mahmoud ELenani said in the release.

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