Spend management platform Pemo secures $7m in pre-series A funding

Funding shows Pemo’s potential to revolutionise the spend management sector in the region

Pemo has announced a $7 million (Dh25.7 million) pre-series A funding round as it seeks to continue its unprecedented growth in the region.

Following two years of remarkable success in the UAE, the leading Dubai-based spend management platform has secured this funding in the wake of reaching Dh1.4 billion in annualised transactions. Testament to its core focus on offering exceptional customer service, the start-up is set to use the investment to drive further innovation in its product and continue delivering an exceptional experience and value for its customers.

Furthermore, Pemo is eyeing expansion into wider markets in the GCC, including Saudi Arabia, which is fast becoming a major technology hub, with an appetite for smart, digitally connected solutions.

Co-led by investors Shorooq and Augmentum Fintech, the new investment builds on the business’ success so far, with more than 4,000 companies already using Pemo’s award-winning software to manage their expenses. Set up to make spend management more efficient, Pemo provides corporate virtual and physical cards and automated tools to deliver full visibility and control on a company’s financial data. This empowers businesses to make faster, better-informed decisions to fuel their growth.

Pemo was co-founded by serial entrepreneurs, Rocket Internet and Google alumni, Ayham Gorani, Valerie Konde, Alessandro Duri, and Saed Ghorani. The team has, over the past 15 years, collectively launched or scaled more than eight ventures, including Zalora and Pleo.

“We’ve been on a mission to help businesses save time and money by simplifying expense management and empowering teams to make responsible purchasing decisions,” says Ayham Gorani, Co-founder of Pemo. “The UAE’s thriving pro-business ecosystem has been the perfect foundation for Pemo’s growth, and we’re excited to strengthen our presence further, enhance our product offering, and expand into new markets.

“We want to help empower these businesses to grow by removing the headaches that drag them down. Having the backing of our incredible investors, who bring a wealth of industry and market knowledge to the fore, will support our expansion and deliver even greater value to our customers.”

With the goal of enabling businesses to gain better control of their finances, Pemo’s corporate cards allow employees to set limits, match receipts, and track company spending through real-time analytics and AI-driven automated accounting. This advanced technology helps businesses stay compliant and streamline operations, especially with the recent introduction of corporate income tax in the UAE.

“Pemo represents an outstanding opportunity in a rapidly growing market, led by a seasoned team with a proven track record in European fintech,” says Tim Levene, CEO of fintech-focused investment company Augmentum. “We believe Pemo is well positioned to play a pivotal role in driving economic growth across the Middle East, a region we are closely monitoring and where we see considerable opportunity and exciting developments in the fintech space.

“With our extensive expertise and network in the fintech sector, we are excited to support Pemo as they embark on this next phase, unlocking the market’s vast potential through transforming expense management and corporate payments, and accelerating the growth of SMEs on a global scale.”

Today, Pemo’s team has grown to over 60 exceptional professionals from leading tech companies both locally in the UAE and globally, whose expertise and innovation are driving the company's rapid growth. The news of the funding follows a prior fuel injection made in April 2022, when the business first launched.

“Pemo has been on an exciting journey from day one,” says Dr Bilal Baloch, Partner at Shorooq. “We recognised the potential of the business early on, building a value creation plan for the company, and it’s been great to see them go from strength to strength under the leadership of stellar co-founders. We are looking forward to supporting Pemo during its next phase of growth as it enters dynamic new markets and accelerates fast and cost-effective decision-making for SMEs.”

Kicking off its entry in the market in the strongest way possible, Pemo previously secured $12 million in seed funding, co-led by Cherry Ventures and Shorooq, with participation from FinTech Collective, Speedinvest, BY Venture Partners and Antler, as well as private investment from business angels. Attracting strong investor confidence from the start has underlined Pemo’s ambition as a major player to disrupt the spend management market.