UAE’s Letswork, Secret Skin raise funding; Saudi fintech PayTabs inks M&A
Letswork, a Dubai-based marketplace for shared spaces, has raised a $2.1 million seed round and announced the expansion of its operations to Saudi Arabia.
The latest round of financing saw participation from 500 Global, The Space, DTEC Ventures and some angel investors.
Founded in 2019 by Omar Almheiri and Hamza Khan, Letswork enables users to rent out co-working offices from its network of cafes, hotels and shared spaces.
The startup plans to use the proceeds to expand its SaaS offering to venues, recruit talent as well as grow its network of workspaces over the next 12 months.
Earlier this year, Letswork raised an undisclosed sum from Silicon Valley-based 500 Global, Saudi Arabia-based Sanabil Investments and other angel investors.
Secret Skin
Secret Skin, a UAE-based skincare marketplace, has raised $765,000 in a pre-seed funding round, led by angel investors, with participation from INSEAD and Wharton Alumni groups.
Founded in 2020 by Anisha Oberoi and Mayank Chauhan, Secret Skin offers sustainable beauty products.
The company said that the new funding will be used to elevate Secret Skin’s brand portfolio of global sustainable beauty brands for its D2C offering, enhance its B2B2C value proposition, and expand into other GCC markets.
PayTabs
Saudi Arabia-based fintech PayTabs has fully acquired Turkish social commerce platform Paymes for an undisclosed amount.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Paymes will serve as PayTabs’ social commerce platform for freelancers, artisans, consultants, home-based business owners, personal trainers and micro vendors across the MENA region to receive instant payments.
Founded in 2014 by Abdulaziz Al Jouf, PayTabs is a payments solutions provider that offers a payment gateway for online stores. Paymes, founded in 2017, is a payment platform that allows individuals and institutions to easily receive payments and conduct e-commerce, which operates in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
Last November, PayTabs acquired Saudi point of sale (POS) provider Digital Pay.
