June 28, 2021 - Applied Equity is pleased to announce a growth equity round for its stake in the Dubai-based buy now pay later (BNPL) player Postpay. Postpay confirmed it has secured a strategic equity investment from AP Ventures and global BNPL leader Afterpay. This equity investment represents an important milestone in the Middle Eastern fintech space and positions Postpay to best serve leading retail groups and brands across the GCC and the rest of the Mena region.

Postpay works with hundreds of leading global brands, including H&M, Footlocker, Dermalogica and regional merchants such as The Entertainer, Kcal and Squat Wolf.

Tariq Sheikh, founder and CEO of Postpay, said: "We are extremely grateful and excited to have Afterpay and AP Ventures as part of our investor-base. Afterpay is the pioneer of the zero cost-to-customer model, and we are honoured and privileged to work with them.

He added: “For Postpay, this strategic investment provides not only capital to enable us to accelerate our growth but also an opportunity to collaborate and bring new learnings from our new shareholders as we expand in the Mena region."

Anthony Eisen co-CEO and co-founder at Afterpay, said: "We are excited to support Postpay as they grow the buy now pay later market in the Middle East. We have seen first-hand the incredible uptake of BNPL globally and have no doubt that Postpay will deliver a best-in-class solution across the Middle East."

Hein Vogel, CEO at AP Ventures said "We believe that Postpay has an extremely strong team, product and partner-base to ensure market leadership in the region. We are proud to be a part of this journey in the Middle East - a region with such impressive growth. Our investment in Postpay fits well with our overall strategy and complements our other BNPL Investment in Asia as well."

In addition to the investment from Afterpay and AP Ventures (which is expected to complete in the coming days) APV will be nominating a director to join the Board of Directors of Postpay.