Amwal Tech

Amwal Tech, a Saudi-based fintech startup established in 2022, is positioning itself as a key player in payment authentication and identity orchestration within the MENA region. The company was co-founded by CEO Dr. Mohamed Zaghoo, CTO Dr. Sameh Galal, and CBO Reda Reda, a team with substantial experience in technology, AI, and finance, including roles at NASA and Citadel Security, and degrees from Harvard and Stanford.

The company's core offering is a platform that simplifies the online payment process for businesses and their customers. It consolidates identity verification, fraud prevention, and payment tokenization into a single API. This approach is designed to address the inefficiencies of traditional authentication methods like passwords and SMS OTPs, which are prone to friction and security vulnerabilities. A central feature is its cryptographic biometric checkout solution, which utilizes FIDO-passkeys for multi-device authentication, aiming to reduce cart abandonment and increase checkout conversion for its merchant clients by up to 35%. Amwal Tech's technology is one of the first global implementations of passkeys for payments and is licensed by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).

The business model focuses on providing these payment solutions to e-commerce merchants, financial institutions, and payment providers. Revenue is generated by enabling businesses to integrate Amwal's authentication and payment acceptance technology, which supports features like one-tap biometric checkout and flexible bank installment plans. This allows customers of participating merchants to split purchases into interest-free installments, while merchants receive payment upfront. The company has secured partnerships with major brands like Sony. To fuel its growth and technological development, Amwal Tech has raised a total of $6.57M through seed and pre-seed funding rounds, with notable investors including Shorooq Partners, Outliers Venture Capital, and Wa'ed Ventures.

Keywords: payment authentication, identity orchestration, biometric checkout, FIDO-passkeys, fintech, payment tokenization, fraud prevention, e-commerce payments, MENA fintech, Saudi Arabia, single API, payment gateway, online transactions, checkout conversion, bank installments, payment security, user authentication, financial technology, secure payments, digital identity