Egyptian fintech startup Zeal has closed a new $10 million funding round, as it looks to expand its technology solutions linked to payment devices and point-of-sale systems across markets in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
The company plans to use the new funding to develop its technology solutions and accelerate its geographic expansion plans, without disclosing the stage of the funding round, the names of participating investors, or details of the deal structure.
Founded in 2019 by Omar Obaid and Bilal Mohamed, Zeal focuses on developing technology tools that leverage point-of-sale systems to help traditional retailers understand customer behavior and build channels for engaging with customers after purchases are completed.
At the forefront of Zeal’s offering is the SmartPOS Plugin, which is designed to add new customer engagement capabilities to the payment process without requiring merchants to replace their existing point-of-sale infrastructure.
The technology enables merchants to identify customers as they complete purchases in-store and use available transaction data to segment shoppers based on purchasing patterns, allowing them to re-engage specific customer segments after the transaction is completed.
Through this model, Zeal aims to address one of the gaps facing traditional retail: the limited amount of customer data available compared with e-commerce platforms.
In digital environments, online retailers can track a user’s journey from browsing products through purchase and returns. By contrast, traditional stores typically have more limited visibility into customer identity and purchasing behavior at the point of sale.
Zeal is therefore positioning the payment device as more than a tool for completing transactions, turning it into a channel that enables merchants to identify customers and understand their purchasing activity. The approach is designed to support recurring customer relationships rather than treating each purchase as an isolated transaction.
Partnerships Across the Payments Ecosystem
The company has strengthened its presence in the payments sector through collaborations with industry players, including Ingenico and Network International. These partnerships enable Zeal to operate within an established payments ecosystem encompassing payment devices, transaction infrastructure and merchant services, allowing its solutions to be integrated into existing payment environments rather than requiring the company to build an entirely independent infrastructure.
The company has also participated in Visa Everywhere, a global innovation program targeting fintech companies developing solutions across payments and commerce.
Middle East, Europe and Africa on the Expansion Map
Zeal plans to expand the reach of its solutions across the Middle East, Europe and Africa in the next phase, leveraging a technology model that integrates with merchants’ existing payment systems.
This approach enables the company to provide additional tools for customer analytics and engagement without requiring merchants to rebuild the payment experience or introduce a separate system into the purchasing process, potentially lowering the barriers to adopting new solutions among traditional retailers.
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