Apps
CoinMENA Raises $9.5M Seed Fund
![CoinMENA Raises $9.5M Seed Fund](https://adigitalboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CoinMENA-2.jpg)
Bahrain-based CoinMENA has raised $9.5M in its first seed funding round led by BECO Capital, Kenetic, Arab Bank Switzerland, Bunat Ventures, Alameda Research, Rua Growth Fund, and Girnas Capital.
In addition to a number of select global angel investors participated in the round recorded.
CoinMENA was launched in early 2021 by Dina Saman, Talal Tabbaa, and Yazan Barghuthi. It was founded primarily to address a market gap that existed for easy and safe access to crypto investing.
Today, as a fully regulated, onshore crypto exchange licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, CoinMENA’s sign-up process takes less than a minute and can be performed on its simple, seamless, and highly intuitive mobile app, which is designed for both beginners and professional traders.
As recorded in our Q3 2021 EVM FinTech Venture Investment Report, a remarkable part in FinTech’s 100% YoY growth in funding across MENA was played by pioneers in Blockchain technology, Open Banking, Cryptocurrency, and international exchange platforms.
VCs seems interested in backing this FinTech exploration into the world of virtual currencies and decentralizing accessible investment opportunities, with major rounds closed by the likes of Fintech Galaxy, BitOasis, Tarabut Gateway, Sarwa, and Baraka in 2021 YTD.
CoinMENA hasn’t only successfully bridged the gap but has also become the go-to exchange, known for its prompt transactions, wide variety of assets, excellent customer service, and easy-to-use mobile app. Most recently, CoinMENA entered into an agreement with the Dubai World Trade Centre to build the next blockchain and crypto hub in the UAE.
Commenting on the investment, CoinMENA’s co-founders stated “With growing awareness about crypto-assets and their transformative potential, appetite from both retail and institutional investors in the MENA region is growing at a rapid pace. Our strategic capital partnerships provide support for our vision to increase the adoption of crypto assets in the region in a regulated and seamless manner. We believe that this is a positive outlook for the crypto assets sector over the coming years both locally and globally.”
CoinMENA markets
CoinMENA exchange services are currently available to residents of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, with a view to expanding to other countries in the MENA region.
Jehan Chu, Founder of Kenetic highlighted the formidable potential for the Bahrain-based blockchain pioneer “CoinMENA is positioned for explosive growth, and Kenetic is excited to lend our extensive experience and deep network to support them as they provide superior crypto liquidity and user experience in a new era of digital finance throughout the MENA region.”
CoinMENA’s investor BECO Capital, the technology-focused venture capital, has been keen on spotting major innovations with a track record of backing MENA’s 3 Unicorns Swvl, Kitopi, and Careem. With this investment and the insurmountable experience onboarded by the network of partners and stakeholders, CoinMENA will be able to expand its market presence across the MENA region.
Dany Farha, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of BECO Capital concluded “We had been searching for a while for the combination of the strength of the team and depth of vision that the team at CoinMENA set out to build. We are very excited to partner with this stellar team in delivering financial inclusion, investing, and saving in a crypto native manner, in a hyper-local manner, all whilst being regulated and adhering to the highest levels of governance and compliance for all stakeholders.”
Apps
5 Best URL Shortener Services in 2024 [Free & Paid]
![The 5 Best URL Shorteners 2020](https://adigitalboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/url-shortener-1.jpg)
A URL Shortener is a technique in which a URL may be made shorter and still redirect to the original long page.
Most URL Shorteners are free and easy to use but come with limitations.
Google shut down its Google URL Shortener in 2018 with continued support until March 30, 2019. However, all existing links will continue to redirect to the intended destination.
Top URL Shortener Services on the Internet
1. Bitly.com
Bitly offers a free and enterprise version of its URL shortening service. No signup necessary, but creating an account allows you to manage links quickly and change the short link characters if you wish.
According to this Quora answer, the enterprise version of Bitly costs around $995/month.
Pro Tip: add + after the short link to access analytics of any bitly link. bitly.com/link+
2. TinyURL
A simple shortener that requires no sign-up and allows users to customize the keyword. The service is free to use, but there is no analytics.
3. Short.io
The best shorten link provider so far, it has so many useful features such as google analytics integration, bulk import, broken links detection, built-in analytics with so many details, link cloaking, and more.
Cost: affordable compared to similar solutions.
4. Rebrandly
Rebrandly is one of the popular URL shortener services in the market. It’s the most complete and reliable link management platform. Their solution provides the easiest way to create, measure, and manage short URLs with a custom domain name.
You can buy your domain name using Rebrandly, tag your URLs using UTM tagging, allow social media pixels to optimize for conversions, and more.
It’s expensive compared to other solutions.
5. eg.gd
eg.gd is a new URL shortener service that offers the same as rebrandly but for free. It was launched last year when bit.ly service was blocked in Egypt.
Apps
Saudi Fintech ‘Lendo’ Raises $28M in Series B Funding
![Lendo Secures $28M in Series B Funding Led by Sanabil Investments, Eyes IPO](https://adigitalboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Untitled-3-1.webp)
Lendo, a Saudi Arabia-based shariah-compliant debt crowdfunding marketplace, has raised SAR 105 million ($28 million) in Series B funding led by Sanabil Investments, a wholly-owned company by the Public Investment Fund (“PIF”). The round saw participation from Shorooq Partners, AB Ventures and other investors.
Lendo is a Shariah-compliant, debt crowdfunding marketplace that helps pre-finance outstanding invoices for businesses in Saudi Arabia. The platform is a community of creditworthy borrowers and sophisticated investors looking for alternative investments. The platform is licensed by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA). Lendo will use the funds to support its fast-growing customer base in Saudi Arabia which has grown 3X year-on-year, introduce more innovative financing products, and accelerate market expansion plans.
“With this funding round, we are going to expand into new markets, support new and current customers, and launch new Shariah-compliant products, all the while continuing to innovate the marketplace for digital lending. We are going to make financial services more accessible, affordable, and inclusive for everyone. I am excited to see what the future holds for our company,” said Osama Alraee, CEO, and co-founder of Lendo, who also disclosed its plans for an IPO within the next few years.
Alraee has also expressed his gratitude to SAMA (Saudi Central Bank), Fintech Saudi, MCIT, Misk, and Monshaat for their unwavering support, emphasizing the pivotal role they have played in advancing financial inclusivity and fostering innovation in partnership with Lendo to reshape the financial landscape. Their dedicated efforts in advancing financial inclusivity and fostering innovation have been invaluable to us. We greatly appreciate their partnership in our mission to transform the financial landscape
Commenting on the announcement, Sanabil Investments said: “Lendo is a leading fintech company that is transforming the financial services industry in their specialist area of Shariah-compliant digital lending for SMEs. The Lendo team, especially the founders, Osama and Mohamed, have achieved a significant amount in a relatively short period, and we are eager to join their journey of increasing access to flexible financial solutions in Saudi Arabia and the region at large.”
“The growing demand for alternative, agile, and accessible lending solutions presents a significant opportunity. At Lendo, we are well-positioned to lead the charge in promoting financial inclusion not only in Saudi Arabia but also beyond. By fueling SME growth, we aim to contribute to the realization of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic goals and to create a ripple effect of opportunity throughout the MENA region,” said Mohamed Jawabri, COO, and co-Founder of Lendo.
Lendo previously raised a SAR 27 million Series A funding round ($7.2 million) in 2021 led by Derayah Ventures with participation from Seedra Ventures and other investors, bringing the fintech’s total funding to SAR 132 million ($35.2 million).
Since the inception of Dec 2019, Saudi fintech Lendo has processed more than 2,500 financing transactions on its platform, providing over SAR 1 billion ($300 million) in financing to SMEs and generating SAR 140 million ($37 million) returns for investors.
The Small and Medium Enterprise financing landscape in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) presents a substantial market opportunity as limited financial access continues to restrict the growth of the region’s businesses, with commercial banks hesitant to issue loans to SMEs at scale, resulting in a high percentage of declined financing requests annually. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the SME financing gap is estimated at SAR 19.5 trillion ($5.2 trillion) every year in developing countries.
Lendo’s debt crowdfunding platform aims to bridge the financing gap for SMEs, which aligns with the Saudi Vision 2030 to significantly expand SME lending from 4% in 2018 to 20% by 2030.
The total value of debt crowdfunding in Saudi Arabia surged from 1.4 million SAR in 2019 to SAR 771 million in 2022, marking a remarkable 430% growth, according to SAMA’s annual fintech report 2022.
Apps
Have you ever downloaded these malicious 400 apps?
![Have you ever downloaded these malicious 400 apps?](https://adigitalboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Featured-Image2.jpg)
Meta has identified over 400 malicious Android and iOS apps designed to steal Facebook login information and compromise people’s accounts.
These apps are disguised as photo editors, games, VPN services, business apps, and other utilities to trick people into downloading them. Some examples include:
- Photo editors, including those that claim to allow you to “turn yourself into a cartoon”
- VPNs claiming to boost browsing speed or grant access to blocked content or websites
- Phone utilities such as flashlight apps that claim to brighten your phone’s flashlight
- Mobile games falsely promise high-quality 3D graphics
- Health and lifestyle apps such as horoscopes and fitness trackers
- Business or ad management apps claim to provide hidden or unauthorized features not found in official apps by tech platforms.
How do these apps work?
Malicious developers create malware apps disguised as apps with fun or useful functionality — like cartoon image editors or music players — and publish them on mobile app stores.
To cover up negative reviews by people who have spotted the defunct or malicious nature of the apps, developers may publish fake reviews to trick others into downloading the malware.
![Have you ever downloaded these malicious 400 apps?](https://adigitalboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/malicious-app.jpg)
Malicious apps- Image Credit: Meta
When a person installs the malicious app, it may ask them to “Login With Facebook” before they can use its promised features. If they enter their credentials, the malware steals their username and password.
If the login information is stolen, attackers could gain full access to a person’s account and do things like message their friends or access private information.
How to protect Facebook accounts from malicious mobile apps?
Malware apps often have telltale signs that differentiate them from legitimate apps. Here are a few things to consider before logging into a mobile app with your Facebook account:
- Requiring social media credentials to use the app: Is the app unusable if you don’t provide your Facebook information? For example, be suspicious of a photo-editing app that needs your Facebook login and password before allowing you to use it.
- The app’s reputation: Is the app reputable? Look at its download count, ratings, and reviews, including negative ones.
- Promised features: Does the app provide the functionality it says it will, before or after logging in?
What to do if your Facebook account is compromised?
Suppose you believe you’ve downloaded a malicious app and have logged in with your social media or other online credentials. In that case, we recommend that you delete the app from your device immediately and follow the following instructions to secure your accounts:
- Reset and create new strong passwords. Never reuse your password across multiple websites.
- Enable two-factor authentication, preferably an Authenticator app, to add an extra security layer to your account.
- Turn on log-in alerts so you’ll be notified if someone is trying to access your account. Review your previous sessions to ensure you recognize which devices have access to your account.
![Have you ever downloaded these malicious 400 apps?](https://adigitalboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Malware-Apps1.jpg)
Malicious apps- Image Credit: Meta
- It’s also recommended to report malicious applications that compromise Meta accounts through the Data Abuse Bounty program.
What are the 400 malicious apps?
Meta provided a list of more than 400 malicious apps in a blog post so users can check to see if they have downloaded any of them. Some apps include Beauty Camera, Kangaroo VPN, Magic Horoscope, and QR Barcode Scanner.
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