The company has announced the opening of its new office in Dubai

Rapyd becomes the first regulated Israeli company in the UAE

photo_camera PHOTO/WAM - Rapyd becomes the first regulated Israeli company in the UAE

Rapyd, a global Israeli-owned FinTech-as-a-Service company, has announced the opening of a new office in downtown Dubai, marking another step towards becoming the first regulated Israeli-owned company in the United Arab Emirates.

Rapyd has already registered with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the most powerful financial centre in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. Rapyd has already achieved the first step towards becoming a regulated company in the country: the company has obtained an in-principle approval (IPA) under the currency control regime, granted by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the independent regulator of financial services carried out in or from the DIFC.

The opening of this new UAE office comes on the heels of recent global acquisitions and a large Series E fundraising of USD 300 million, enhancing Rapyd's position as a pioneer not only in the FinTech sector, but also in the technology industry in general.

A win-win regularisation

The Israeli technology company's main objective is to turn Dubai into a development hub in which to reinforce its expansion and growth needs. To achieve this, the company has made public its strategy, which involves hiring 120 employees in Dubai in various departments, including R&D, Products, Operations and Human Resources over the next 18 months.

This move once again underlines the technology company's commitment to the Middle East region, and is a step forward in its expansion by opening its new development centre in Dubai

PHOTO/WAM – Rapyd se convierte en la primera empresa israelí regulada en Emiratos

Commenting on the announcement, Rapyd CEO Arik Shiltman said, "Rapyd is revolutionising the way a FinTech company should operate by taking the unprecedented step of becoming the first Israeli company on track to be regulated by the DFSA, allowing the company to establish strong roots in Dubai and grow in the UAE and beyond".

During the opening celebrations of its new facility inaugurated on 11 May in the Arab Emirate, Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority, highlighted that "Dubai and DIFC continue to consolidate its position as one of the world's leading hubs for technology and innovation companies by offering the most comprehensive proposition that helps start-ups, global players and unicorns gain fast access to growth markets in the MEASA region. We are delighted that Rapyd, the first regulated Israeli company in the UAE, has chosen DIFC as its strategic development centre".

On the UAE side, the deal is a step towards becoming home to 20 "unicorn" technology companies, as described by the WAM news agency, worth $1 billion or more by 2031.

A global marketplace

The financial company Rapyd operates through a worldwide financial network, aiming to create a single integration that enables access to locally preferred payment methods around the world, including cash, bank transfers and ATMs, e-wallets, real-time debit card systems, local systems and other payment methods anywhere on the planet.

"Rapyd ensures that iRemit can bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds by providing our customers in Europe, Asia and Australia with a mobile money transfer solution and an extensive cash and bank transfer network," said iRemit president Harris Jacildo, adding that "Rapyd extends iRemit's mobile remittance capabilities, allowing us to become a mobile solution virtually overnight"

This is a further step in the deepening of all-round relations between the UAE and Israel after the two countries signed the famous Abraham Accords under which several Arab countries established diplomatic relations with the Israeli state under the auspices of the United States.

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