Fintech Elevate raises $5M funding for MEA expansion

Elevate, a Dubai-based fintech, has secured USD $5 million in a pre-Series A round, as announced on June 6, 2024.

The startup, which previously received seed funding from Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, Venture Souq, and Visa, did not disclose the breakdown between debt and equity.

With the new funding, Elevate plans to expand its global payment business across the Middle East and Africa, taking advantage of the rise in remote work and freelancing. The platform serves over 150,000 workers from Asia and North Africa, enabling them to receive payments from global organisations and freelancing platforms like Upwork, Maqsam, PayPal, Deel, and Toptal. The startup also aims to help workers from countries like Egypt earn in USD globally and to launch in new markets, including Indonesia, South Africa, Vietnam, and Turkey. Additionally, Elevate has partnered with leading freelancing platforms and payroll providers such as Deel, which recently acquired PaySpace to further expand across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific regions.

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Sharing the vision for the new investment, Khalid Keenan, CEO and co-founder of Elevate, said, “Platforms like Deel and Upwork have enabled the surge of remote work in emerging markets, empowering talent from Manila, Lahore, Cairo, or Dhaka to compete on a global scale. However, the outdated system for remote workers to receive USD payments has posed challenges. We’re grateful to our partners for supporting us in tackling the payment problem. We’re excited to continue growing in emerging markets while ensuring we prioritise compliance and manage risk in everything we do.”

“Current solutions for receiving USD payments are expensive and inefficient. Elevate aims to help freelancers and remote workers keep more of their earnings by reducing fees and simplifying the process,” he added.