The problem
Before Tap, online payment acceptance in the Middle East was a long, complicated process with rigid methods — realistic only for big players. An SME in Kuwait faced lengthy setup procedures while its customers wanted to pay with KNET, and a merchant expanding to Saudi or Egypt hit a different local method in each market.
How it works
Ali Abulhasan founded Tap Payments in Kuwait in 2014 after working in payments across oil and gas and banking. Working with businesses and banks, the team built a single solution that is easy to set up and evolves per merchant: checkout and billing products routing international cards alongside each country’s local method. Starting with Kuwait, Tap grew across the GCC and MENA, and by 2019 had empowered nearly 10,000 startups, professionals, and entrepreneurs.
Pain points
Weeks of setup, checkouts missing the one local method a shopper trusts, and enterprise-grade billing tools priced out of SME reach.
Business model
A percentage on each processed payment, layered with billing, invoicing, and checkout products for growing businesses.
Challenges
Every market needs its own licence and bank plumbing; Checkout-scale globals and licensed locals undercut on price; and cash-on-delivery habits plus fraud keep authorisation rates under pressure.
Funding
- Raised: undisclosed.
- Valuation: MISSING.
Latest — April 2025
On 8 April 2025 Tap Payments received a licence from the Central Bank of the UAE to provide commercial payment services, calling it a pivotal achievement in its mission to unify and simplify digital payments across the region and opening the region’s largest fintech market.