UAE-Based Fintech Startup Alaan Raises US$4.5 Million

UAE-based spend management platform Alaan has raised US$4,5 million pre-series A funding from Presight Capital, Y Combinator, and angel investors. When coupled with a $2,5 million seed round raised last year, Alaan has received a total of $7 million in funding to date.

The new funding will be used to grow its UAE operations, expand across the GCC, as well as to enhance its product, including adding automated invoice payments to domestic and international suppliers and other features.

Parthi Duraisamy, co-founder and CEO of Alaan, said that since the last financing round, the Alaan team has introduced a number of product innovations, including AI-powered workflow automation for managing spend and seamless accounting sync. “Our cashback card offers a unique benefit in the Middle East corporate card and spend management space,” he added. “With the new funds, we are excited to further enhance our offering and expand our reach in new markets as we continue to help businesses improve their efficiency, productivity, and employee experience through Alaan.”

Founded by ex-McKinsey employees Parthi Duraisamy and Karun Kurien in August 2022, Alaan has onboarded more than 100 businesses in the UAE with a combined total of over 5,000 employees, and crossed double-digit millions in payment volume within three months of its launch and averaged a monthly growth of 500% in 2022, the company said in a statement.

Its platform allows businesses to instantly issue physical and virtual cards for managing all their business expenses, including e-commerce transactions, SaaS subscriptions, vendor payments, government services, or in-store purchases. These cards can be set up with daily or monthly spend limits and can also be locked to be used only with specific merchants such as fuel stations. The platform eliminates the need for expense reports and petty cash, and automates bookkeeping tasks via seamless integration with leading accounting solution providers such as Xero, QuickBooks and Microsoft Dynamics.

Jad Halaoui, co-founder of Washmen and a client of Alaan, chose to participate in this investment round after utilizing the platform for a few months. “Alaan has shaved off hours from my team members in operations, accounting, finance and even marketing,” he said. “It has transformed the way money flows and is controlled at Washmen. Their product shows they have a deep understanding of what companies need to streamline their finances and governance with simplicity.”

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