Wafeq: the fintech catering to regional standards
Summary
Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia had just introduced VAT and Alameddine, who was already a co-founder at Pricena, a shopping search engine, decided to leave and set up Wafeq, an accounting software that enables SMEs to conduct their e-invoicing, taxation and employee payroll online. “This pattern repeats in many countries, but not in our market, we don’t have this 10x brand - where you become the default software - there is opportunity in the Middle East where it is still fragmented and thats what we’re going after,” says Alameddine. “I learned to appreciate how important it is, I knew technical founders are essential for a startup, but I wanted to have more control, it gave me comfort that I had the full picture of what we were building,” he says. Alameddine has a large team of engineers driving the development of Wafeq and the company now enjoys a presence in the UAE and Saudi Arabia with plans to expand to Egypt after raising a $3 million Seed round led by Raed Ventures with participation from Wamda Capital. “The biggest thing that is holding back the full potential of accounting software is integration with the banks,” he says.