Nearpay
Nearpay is a Saudi Arabia-based fintech founded in 2020 that provides Payment Infrastructure as a Service through its certified SoftPOS platform, enabling merchants, banks, payment service providers, and fintech startups to accept contactless card payments on NFC-enabled devices across MENA and beyond.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersRiyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Nearpay does
Nearpay is a Saudi Arabia-based fintech founded in 2020 that provides Payment Infrastructure as a Service (PIaaS) centered on its SoftPOS technology. The platform transforms NFC-enabled smartphones, tablets, and terminals into secure contactless payment acceptance devices, eliminating the need for traditional hardware POS terminals. The company is incorporated as Nearpay Inc. in Delaware, USA, with operational headquarters in Riyadh, and serves merchants, platform providers, acquiring banks, payment service providers, and fintech startups across MENA and beyond.
The core product portfolio comprises the NearPay SDK — available across Android, iOS, Web, Flutter, and Terminal environments — a direct Merchant Solution for tap-to-pay acceptance, and a Platform Solution offering white-label dashboards and Tap to Pay apps for partners. The platform supports transaction types including purchase, refund, void, reversal, and reconciliation, with real-time monitoring, geolocation tracking, terminal assignment, and webhook-based notifications. Nearpay holds PCI MPoC, PCI DSS, and Level 2/Level 3 end-to-end certifications from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, UnionPay, and Mada, making it one of the first PCI MPoC-certified SoftPOS providers globally.
Nearpay operates a transaction-fee revenue model, monetizing per-transaction processing rather than charging upfront hardware fees. Its go-to-market combines product-led growth — the SDK is advertised as integrating in under 30 minutes — with enterprise sales targeting banks and large PSPs, and channel partnerships such as the Digital Pay agreement to expand merchant reach. The company is live in Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Nigeria, Jordan, and the United States, with the UAE in progress and Egypt, Pakistan, and Vietnam in the planned expansion pipeline.
Nearpay firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Nearpay
- Legal name
- Nearpay Inc.
- Website
- https://nearpay.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Nearpay is a Saudi Arabia-based fintech founded in 2020 that provides Payment Infrastructure as a Service through its certified SoftPOS platform, enabling merchants, banks, payment service providers, and fintech startups to accept contactless card payments on NFC-enabled devices across MENA and beyond.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Nearpay industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Payment Infrastructure Software
- NAICS
- Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- mPOS & SoftPOS (Tap-to-Phone) Solutions (FSAMADAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- POS, SoftPOS & In-Person Acceptance Infrastructure (FSAGABAO), Payment Orchestration Platforms (FSAGABAA), Payment Gateways & Orchestration (BPAMAFAA)
Keywords
Where Nearpay is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Riyadh
- HQ country
- Saudi Arabia
- HQ region
- Middle East
Offices1 record
Markets served
Nearpay business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Transaction/Usage-based Fees: Revenue generated from transaction fees as merchants use the SoftPOS solution to process payments. The company handles compliance, certification, and full stack payments infrastructure.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Monthly | Custom enterprise pricing based on transaction volume and business size |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Nearpay product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Nearpay provides Payment Infrastructure as a Service (PIaaS) built on PCI MPoC-certified SoftPOS technology that transforms any NFC-enabled device into a secure payment terminal. It sells SDKs (Android, iOS, Web, Terminal), a Merchant Solution for direct card acceptance, and a Platform Solution offering white-label dashboards, merchant management, integrations, and settlements. The platform supports all major networks (Mada, Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, JCB, UnionPay) and handles compliance, certification, and full-stack payments infrastructure on behalf of customers.
Product overview
NearPay is a Saudi fintech company providing Payment Infrastructure as a Service (PIaaS) with a focus on SoftPOS (Software Point of Sale) technology. The company's product portfolio consists of a unified platform built around NearPay SoftPOS, which transforms NFC-enabled devices into secure payment terminals. The core offering includes the NearPay SDK (available for Android, iOS, Web, Flutter, and Terminal) that enables developers to embed payment acceptance into applications, the Merchant Solution for direct payment acceptance from consumers, and the Platform Solution providing comprehensive white-label management tools for partners. The products are designed to eliminate traditional POS hardware by enabling Tap to Pay functionality on smartphones and tablets, supported by backend APIs and transaction dashboards.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- NearPay SDK A software development kit that enables developers to embed NFC card payment acceptance (purchase, refund, reconciliation) into mobile, web, and terminal applications within approximately 30 minutes. Supports Android, iOS, Web, and Terminal platforms with Java, Kotlin, Swift, JavaScript, Flutter, and React frameworks. Targeted at merchants, platform providers, and fintech integrators.
- NearPay Merchant Solution A solution enabling merchants to accept payments directly from consumer cards on their NFC-enabled mobile devices or tablets. Includes Tap to Pay capability, a transaction dashboard, SDK integration, and API access for SMB and mid-market merchants.
- NearPay Platform Solution A comprehensive platform providing solutions for partners to enable merchants to sell to consumers. Features include Hub Dashboard, Merchant Dashboard, SDK, API Access, Platform Management, Integrations Management, full white-label dashboards, full white-label Tap to Pay App, Tickets Management, Claims Management, Settlements Management, User Access Management, Compliance Management, Certification Management, Audits Management, and Security Management. Targeted at platform providers, PSPs, and acquiring banks.
- NearPay SoftPOS Software-based payment solution that transforms NFC-enabled devices like smartphones and tablets into secure payment terminals, eliminating the need for traditional POS hardware. Supports contactless card payments, QR codes, and biometric authentication across Mada, Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, JCB, UnionPay, and other networks.
- NearPay API Backend API enabling developers to control terminal assignment, perform real-time transaction and reconciliation filtering, manage terminals, trigger reconciliations, and receive webhook notifications for transaction success/decline, reconciliation completion, reversal, terminal assignment, device connection, and key regeneration events.
Quantifiable outcome
- Contactless payments grew from 4% to 94% of POS payments in Saudi Arabia by end of 2020
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Nearpay
Customer profileNamed customers19 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Nearpay technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature7 records
Nearpay partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.
- Digital PaycorePartnership with Digital Pay, a payment services provider in Saudi Arabia, to expand range of payment solutions. NearPay's technologies integrated into Digital Pay's suite of payment solutions to serve new markets requiring flexible payment solutions.
- VisaflagshipVISA Solution Partner with Level 2 Kernel and Level 3 certifications. One of the first certified tap to phone solutions under VRTPKS.
- MastercardflagshipMastercard Pilot Ready certified partner with Level 2 Kernel and Level 3 certifications for SoftPOS technology.
- American ExpresscoreLevel 2 Kernel and Level 3 certifications for processing AMEX card payments.
- MADA (Saudi Payments)flagshipLevel 3 end-to-end integration testing certification for processing MADA card payments with acquirers. National payment network partner in Saudi Arabia.
- FIMEcoreAccredited testing laboratory for Level 2 Kernel certifications with Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, PURE, JCB, and UnionPay.
- Applus+ LaboratoriescoreVisa-accredited testing laboratory that conducted certification testing for NearPay's SoftPOS solution under VRTPKS.
- Saudi PaymentscoreNational payment network operator in Saudi Arabia supporting MADA cards and contactless payment infrastructure.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Nearpay competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Geidea: Geidea is a Saudi-based payment solutions provider offering POS terminals, SoftPOS, and online payment gateway services. It is the most direct domestic competitor to Nearpay, targeting the same Saudi banks, PSPs, and merchants with overlapping SoftPOS and acquiring capabilities.
- PayTabs: PayTabs is a MENA-founded payment processing and SoftPOS provider operating across the GCC, North Africa, and Asia. It offers both online and in-person payment acceptance with similar SDK-based developer experience, making it a direct regional competitor to Nearpay.
- Tap Payments: Tap Payments is a MENA-based payment platform offering online, in-person, and SoftPOS solutions with developer-first APIs. It targets similar MENA merchants, PSPs, and developers as Nearpay and competes for the same regional payment infrastructure wallet.
- Paymob: Paymob is an Egypt-based payment infrastructure platform offering online, mobile, and SoftPOS acceptance to merchants and PSPs. It is a relevant regional SoftPOS peer with comparable API/SDK architecture and similar emerging-markets focus.
Broad incumbents
- Stripe Terminal: Stripe Terminal is Stripe's in-person payments product offering SDKs, Tap to Pay on iPhone, and pre-certified card readers globally. As a global incumbent with deep developer mindshare and direct scheme relationships, it represents the strategic ceiling for what Nearpay's platform can become — and a direct competitive threat in expansion markets.
- Adyen: Adyen is a global unified commerce platform offering in-person payments, terminal solutions, and acquiring services to enterprise merchants. While primarily online-focused, its terminal and unified commerce ambitions make it a relevant broad incumbent that could enter MENA more aggressively.
- Block (Square): Block's Square offers hardware and software POS solutions globally, including Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android. It is a broad incumbent that has pioneered the SMB SoftPOS category and competes with Nearpay for developer and merchant mindshare internationally.
- Verifone: Verifone is a global POS hardware and software provider that has been expanding into software-based and Tap to Phone solutions. It is a relevant broad incumbent in the payments terminal space and competes with Nearpay for acquirer and bank partnerships in MENA.
Emerging players
- myPOS: myPOS is a European-based payment solutions provider offering SoftPOS, mPOS terminals, and merchant accounts to SMBs. It is an emerging player with a similar focus on software-based acceptance and SMB merchant onboarding.
Others
- Foodics: Foodics is a Saudi-based restaurant POS and management platform that is both a customer and a potential competitor/complement to Nearpay in the restaurant vertical. It is included as a customer-competitor hybrid and ecosystem participant, given its role as a major enterprise customer that itself is building payment acceptance.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Nearpay social profiles
Digital presenceNearpay compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance12 records
Nearpay financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Nearpay leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Nearpay funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors7 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Nearpay M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Nearpay
What does Nearpay do?
Nearpay provides Payment Infrastructure as a Service (PIaaS) built on PCI MPoC-certified SoftPOS technology that transforms any NFC-enabled device into a secure payment terminal. It sells SDKs (Android, iOS, Web, Terminal), a Merchant Solution for direct card acceptance, and a Platform Solution offering white-label dashboards, merchant management, integrations, and settlements. The platform supports all major networks (Mada, Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, JCB, UnionPay) and handles compliance, certification, and full-stack payments infrastructure on behalf of customers.
Is Nearpay a public or private company?
Nearpay is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Nearpay founded?
Nearpay was founded in 2020. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Nearpay based?
Nearpay is headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the Middle East region.
How does Nearpay make money?
One revenue line is on record: transaction/Usage-based Fees.
Who are Nearpay's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Geidea, PayTabs, Tap Payments and Paymob. Broad incumbents are Stripe Terminal, Adyen, Block (Square) and Verifone. myPOS is listed as an emerging player. Foodics is listed as an others.
Does Nearpay have an API?
Yes. Nearpay offers a public API for developers to integrate payment functionality. The API enables free integration with NearPay backend systems, providing features including terminal assignment control, real-time transaction filtering, real-time reconciliation filtering, terminal management, and triggering reconciliations through API calls. The API supports webhooks for notifications including transaction success/declined, reconciliation completion, reversal notifications, terminal assignment/revocation alerts, device connection notifications, and API key/JWT key regeneration alerts. Developer documentation is at docs.nearpay.io.
What industry is Nearpay in?
Nearpay's product category is Payment Infrastructure Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAMADAB, mPOS & SoftPOS (Tap-to-Phone) Solutions, with a secondary code of FSAGABAO, POS, SoftPOS & In-Person Acceptance Infrastructure. Its NAICS code is 522320 and its SIC code is 7370.