As per today’s statement, Stc Pay that is a Saudi mobile wallet which is a subsidiary of the Suadi Telecom (Stc) recently has raised $200 million from the Western Union at a clear valuation of $1.33 billion that is (SAR 5 billion). This international money transfer giant has acquired around 15% stake in the Stc Pay and as a result of this deal. For this valuation, Stc said it makes Stc Pay, first Saudi unicorn.
The Stc Pay is exactly not qualified as a startup as it already had started with $26 million that is (SAR 100 million) of investment from 2017 Stc and it had received another $80 million in the year, 2019; however, technically speaking this investment of Western Union at the given valuation of $1.33 also make it unicorn with the two entities on its cap table.
Previously, it was just Stc alone, and it was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.
If we are calling it a unicorn, then it is the third unicorn of this region after Careem that is already acquired by the Uber, and also the Dubai-based Emerging Market Property Group.
It was launched in late 2018, and Stc Pay’s mobile wallet successfully offers various digital financial services to the consumers including the peer-to-peer money transfer service as between its all users, the transfers to bank accounts, payment of utility bills, the payments at partner stores along with QR codes, and the international money transfers which are powered by the Western Union.
The two companies are in a relationship since the early months of 2019, that means the Western Union has a pretty amazing idea of numbers, its growth, and the potential of Stc Pay.
Stc Pay was among the first two companies to receive fintech license from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority earlier this year. Like a few weeks ago, it also launched a card in the partnership visa that allows the users to make the online as well as offline payments at the Visa merchant Worldwide.
It also claims to have around 4.5 million users that make it the largest mobile wallet in North Africa and the Middle East. Its money transfer service is also immensely popular among the expatriates living in the country, Saudi Arabia. The latest investment of Stc Pay said that it will be used just to support its long-term expansion plans in the future.
