Pemo launches VISA payment card to power all-in-one spend management solution for UAE SMEs

Pemo, the UAE-based spend management platform empowering businesses across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP), announced that it has launched its newest product offering in the form of physical and virtual VISA payment cards. Tailored to the requirements of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the company began onboarding its first batch of UAE-based companies in May 2022, allowing early adopters to access the platform’s beta features, including digitized invoices, automated approval flows, one-click invoice payments and real-time cash flow monitoring. Users can now upgrade to the full Pemo experience with the introduction of prepaid smart cards that can be distributed to employees. 

Ayham Gorani, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Pemo, commented: “Managing efficient employee spend and expense reports in a company is a challenge that any accountant, finance director and general manager can relate to. Our mission at Pemo from day one was to tackle this by eliminating administrative tasks and enabling a healthy spending culture.  With the launch of Pemo cards, businesses now have a frictionless end-to-end solution that automatically categorizes employee expenses, captures receipts for every transaction, and offers management teams complete visibility on corporate spending.” 

Pemo has joined forces with MENA-based plug-and-play Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) provider, NymCard, to offer a comprehensive and fully-compliant digital banking experience with the issuance of secure virtual and physical cards that have been integrated into the company’s spend management platform. 

Omar Onsi, CEO of NymCard, said: “We are thrilled to be enabling such an innovative product like Pemo on our modern BaaS platform. Pemo is solving a major pain point in the region by offering prepaid and virtual cards to SMBs in order to streamline their expense management process, making it a lot simpler and easier.”

Business owners and management teams fund their Pemo account through a bank transfer, after which employees are invited to create individual accounts.  The platform then determines an expense policy for each user.  Virtual cards can be used for online purchases and subscriptions, while physical cards can be used in store, with both versions offering the primary account holder the flexibility of setting parameters, such as unlocking access to select vendors or limiting total spend. Receipts from all transactions can then be uploaded to the Pemo platform, allowing a holistic view and real-time tracking of expenses through a shared dashboard.

Pemo cards will initially be rolled-out across the UAE, with the full platform expected to be available in other regional markets, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan in the next 18 months. The latest development comes following the announcement of Pemo’s USD 12 million seed round in May 2022.

To learn more about the Pemo spend management platform, please visit: pemo.io