Dubai-based financial comparison platform Yallacompare has raised $8 million in fresh funding led by existing investors Wamda Capital and STC Ventures, Wamda reported today. The round was also joined by New York-based Argo Ventures which VC arm of international insurance company Argo Group and invests in insuretech, fintech, risk management, and enterprise software companies. This round takes total investment raised so far by the startup close to $18 million.
Founded in 2011 by Jon Richards and Samer Chehab, Yallacompare helps users compare financial products including different types of loans and credit cards, and buy insurance online through its web-based platform. Yallacompare’s CEO in an interview last year with MENAbytes had said that they have 76% of the market of online insurance sales in the GCC.
Initally launched as Compareit4me, the startup was re-branded to Yallacomprare in 2017.
The startup plans to use this latest investment to expand to Egypt by the end of this quarter and work on increasing its market share in United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. According to their website, Yallacompare already offers comparison for some products in Egypt which suggests this expansion is more in terms of maybe having a local team.
Jon Richards, founder and CEO of Yallacompare, speaking to Wamda, said, “We are delighted with this latest round of funding, which represents a ringing endorsement of our direct-to-consumer financial services model. Of all the potential regional player candidates, Argo Ventures selected us as the clear leader in the market.”
Jonathan Rawling, CFO with Yallacompare, also commented on the occasion, “Financial comparison websites in the region is still a nascent business,” said “A big drive is to get people online, there is still a long way to go in bringing offline customers online. It’s growing, we’ve seen four times as many people buying online last year compared to 2017. It’s a confidence thing, it’s a new industry, before people spend a lot of money, they might want to hear a voice on the phone. We think we’re changing that and it will continue to improve.”
Yallacompare counts the well-funded Souqalmal, Bayzat and recently launched Aqeed among its competitors in this space. Bayzat
Oleg Illichev, Head of Argo Ventures told Wamda, “Our mission is to discover and empower entrepreneurs who are reinventing financial services. We believe that Yallacompare’s goal of educating and simplifying the purchase of financial products aligns nicely with our beliefs.”
