FENIX expands payment options for access to electric mobility in Middle East
FENIX, the electric mobility and deliveries platform in the Middle East, has expanded FENIX Pay, its payments service, to the region. With FENIX Pay, users will have the convenience and flexibility to choose among multiple payment methods to access its affordable and convenient services across five countries in the region.
In the UAE and in Turkey, anyone with a smartphone will be able to pay for FENIX services via live integrations with the two UAE national telecom providers and three leading Turkey telecom providers. Later this quarter, FENIX Pay will also be integrated with telecom operators Mobily in Saudi Arabia and with Batelco in Bahrain. The payments platform also includes seamless payments with Apple Pay across the region.
In a statement, the company stated that although the Middle East boasts a young and digitally savvy population with smartphone penetration reaching 80 to 90 percent in leading markets, only about a third of retail transactions are conducted electronically, due to factors such as underdeveloped digital-payments infrastructure and services, underbanked consumer and merchant segments, and a cultural bias toward cash. Increasing payment options therefore is a necessity to allow more people to participate in the benefits of affordable electric mobility, and unleash urban potential via financial inclusion.
Jaideep Dhanoa, Co-Founder and CEO of FENIX says, “Mobility is a means-to-an-end and an enabler or limiter to get where you need to be, to do what you’re meant to do, to reach your potential. When we started FENIX we focused on mobility as the first domain where we can make a difference. It has quickly become apparent that financial inclusion is another major limiter in today’s economy. Mobile payments in the region are failing these segments. So we have started building our own payments platform called FENIX Pay so we can remove this limiter and provide financial freedom for anyone to pay how they like.”
In addition, consumers can top up their FENIX Pay balance through cash-based vouchers in all operating markets including UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Qatar and Turkey. Users can simply approach a FENIX Associate in an operating area or when receiving a delivery and purchase a voucher using cash, card on delivery with Nomod, or local digital wallet transfers including STC Pay in Saudi Arabia and Benefit Pay in Bahrain.
FENIX Pay has been developed in an exclusive partnership with Apaya, a modular, scalable platform enabling merchants to add a secure payments layer to their tech. In line with its mission, FENIX will continue to integrate additional alternative payment channels with local providers to unleash urban potential via financial inclusion in the Greater Middle East.
