Shopping/financial services app Tabby is acquiring Saudi digital wallet Tweeq.
The deal, announced Tuesday (Sept. 3), will let Tweeq continue to operate independently, while allowing Tabby to consider expanding its financial products suite to include features like digital spending accounts, cards and money management tools.
“The agreement is a significant step towards realizing the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, contributing to the expansion of digital financial services,” the companies said in a news release, in reference to the country’s economic development strategy.
According to the release, Tweeq will work with Tabby to expand its services within Tabby’s ecosystem and consumer scale.
“Tweeq has made it its mission to meet the financial needs of Saudi Arabia by building the best mobile-first spending account,” said Hosam Arab, CEO and co-founder of Tabby.
“With Tweeq joining forces with Tabby, we will unlock a whole new suite of financial products designed to empower our customers to do even more with their money when they spend, send or save.”
The release noted that Tabby graduated from the Saudi central bank’s regulatory sandbox and received its buy now, pay later (BNPL) permit in July of last year.
“The acquisition agreement reinforces the growing maturity and potential of Saudi Arabia’s FinTech industry, spotlighting the region’s expanding financial technology sector and representing a breakthrough for the broader Middle Eastern FinTech ecosystem,” the release added.
In other digital wallet news, PYMNTS wrote Tuesday about the impact they are having, especially outside the U.S., where they have come to offer a wider range of functionalities catering to diverse needs.
“In Europe, we have been quite advanced in digitization of payments, and the usage of digital wallets has been growing rapidly,” Deniz Oran, head of payment partnership, EMEA at Google Wallet, told PYMNTS.
“The journey for many people starts with adding the payments credential, then very quickly once they’ve become accustomed to using the digital wallet, they add other credentials such as loyalty cards, boarding passes, transit and event tickets, and the list goes on,” Oran added.
That report also noted that younger age groups, who are typically digital natives, are most responsible for driving the adoption of digital wallets for both payment and non-payment uses.