UAE-based fintech startup, Comfi, has raised $65 million in a pre-Series A funding round combining equity and debt. This is a major vote of confidence for one of the region’s fast-rising business finance platforms.

The funding round was led on the equity side by Iliad Partners, with participation from Yango Ventures and Raw Ventures. The debt component includes a credit facility from Partners for Growth and a mezzanine facility structured by Shorooq, alongside participation from a notable regional family office.

Founded in 2023, Comfi is targeting one of the most persistent problems facing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), delayed business payments that leave companies starved of working capital.

The startup says the fresh capital will be used to strengthen its technology, expand underwriting capabilities, launch new products, and accelerate growth across key regional markets.

The announcement highlights growing investor appetite for financial technology firms solving real-economy problems in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It also covers the wider MENA region, where SMEs remain central to employment and economic diversification but often struggle to access fast and reliable financing.

What is Comfi and What Does It Do?

Comfi describes itself as a B2B embedded finance platform focused on helping SMEs overcome cash flow bottlenecks.

Headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, the company was founded by Sanjar Samiev, Alisher Akbarov, Amal Abdullaev, and Denis Gavrilin, a team with backgrounds in fintech product growth, operations, engineering, and financial services.

Its core mission is to solve a long-standing structural problem, many businesses supply goods or services to other companies but must wait weeks or months before invoices are paid. During that waiting period, suppliers may struggle to buy inventory, pay salaries, manage rent, or invest in growth.

Comfi says many SMEs in the region are trapped in a “persistent cash-flow race,” where extended B2B payment cycles “restrict businesses from collecting payments in a timely manner and accessing the working capital they need to survive and grow.”

By stepping into that financing gap, the startup aims to become a trusted partner for thousands of businesses that need faster access to money already tied up in unpaid invoices.

How Comfi’s Buy Now, Pay Later Model Works

Comfi’s flagship offering is a B2B Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solution designed for transactions between businesses rather than consumers.

Under the model, SME suppliers can offer their customers up to 90-day payment terms, allowing buyers more time to settle invoices. However, instead of waiting months to be paid, the supplier receives funds from Comfi within 24 hours.

That means the buyer gains flexibility, while the seller gets immediate liquidity. Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder Sanjar Samiev said the idea came from firsthand experience of how damaging delayed payments can be for business growth.

“We built Comfi from firsthand experience with how disruptive payment cycles can be to an SME’s operations,” he said. “When you’re waiting over 60 days to get paid, you can’t invest in inventory, hire the right people, or take on new opportunities, you’re just surviving.”

He added that Comfi is addressing the issue “by combining embedded finance with AI-driven risk and underwriting to unlock capital instantly, without the friction of traditional lending.”

The company’s use of data and artificial intelligence to assess risk is central to its model, helping it approve financing faster while managing defaults more effectively than traditional lending systems.

What Comfi Plans to Use the $65 Million For

The newly raised capital will fund Comfi’s next stage of expansion as it seeks to deepen its presence across the MENA market.

According to the company, the funds will be used to scale underwriting and risk capabilities, expand its product suite, and accelerate growth across key regional markets.

This means Comfi is likely to invest heavily in technology infrastructure, data systems, compliance frameworks, and new financing products tailored to the needs of SMEs across sectors such as trade, logistics, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Samiev said the funding gives the company “the resources to scale our products, strengthen our regional partnerships, and expand access to fast, reliable working capital across MENA.”

The company’s traction suggests momentum behind the strategy. Comfi says it has already processed more than 15,000 invoices, works with 4,000+ finance leaders, and serves over 1,000 clients across the region.

Why Investors Are Paying Attention

The investor backing behind Comfi signals growing recognition that SME financing remains one of the largest untapped opportunities in the region.

Christos Mastoras, Founder and Managing Partner of Iliad Partners, said the firm backs companies that modernise economic infrastructure, and believes Comfi fits that thesis.

“Comfi is doing exactly that, tackling one of the most fundamental pain points in the region: access to working capital for SMEs,” he said.

He added that the company has built “a scalable platform designed for real-economy impact,” praising the founders for their “clarity of vision, speed of execution, and disciplined approach.”

Meanwhile, Armineh Baghoomian, Managing Director and Head of EMEA at Partners for Growth, said Comfi’s business aligns with the lender’s strategy of supporting fast-growing category leaders across the GCC.

At Shorooq, Credit Principal Joe Barron described SME liquidity constraints in the GCC as “not a demand problem, they are a structural financing problem.” He said what stood out was Comfi’s ability to assess and underwrite credit risk using proprietary systems built on real transaction data.

Talking Points

SMEs are widely regarded as the backbone of most economies, yet many face financing challenges that limit productivity, hiring, and expansion. In emerging markets, late invoice payments can create ripple effects across supply chains, slowing commerce and increasing business failure rates.

Comfi’s rise reflects a broader shift in fintech from consumer-focused apps toward infrastructure platforms that solve deeper business problems. Rather than chasing convenience alone, startups like Comfi are addressing liquidity, lending efficiency, and economic resilience.

For the UAE and wider MENA region, where governments are pushing entrepreneurship, private sector growth, and economic diversification, better financing tools for SMEs could have an outsized impact.

If Comfi succeeds in scaling its model responsibly, it could help thousands of businesses move from survival mode to growth mode, while proving that fintech innovation in the region can solve some of its oldest commercial challenges.

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