Yubi forays into Middle East and North Africa through its subsidiary Spocto

Gaurav Kumar, Founder & CEO - Yubi

Corporate debt solution platform Yubi (formerly CredAvenue) has forayed into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region starting with Dubai through its subsidiary Spocto Solutions, the startup said in a statement on October 12.

Yubi aims to leverage the growing lending opportunity in the region through Spocto which is a risk mitigation platform.

Gaurav Kumar, Founder and CEO of Yubi, said, "As we serve the top lenders in India and continue to add value, we decided to take our learnings to other markets which are on the cusp of digital transformation. UAE, one of the financial hubs with a supportive ecosystem for fintech, was the perfect first global market to enter. We are confident that Spocto’s foray into the MENA region will effectively drive our value proposition to lenders and borrowers alike."

Yubi acquired a 75.1 percent stake in Spocto Solutions in February this year, and plans to acquire the balance stake in the next five years. Spocto already has a presence in the Middle East and works with five banks in the region.

Now, Spocto has established a wholly-owned subsidiary to cater to the MENA region. The company is looking to expand to Southeast Asian countries in the next 18-24 months.

Yubi has on-boarded former Mashreq Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank executive Vikas Thapar as Chief Business Officer (CBO) and former Paytm Vice President Roshni Nair Jain as VP to lead Spocto operations in MENA.

"In FY24, Yubi Group expects to increase its business in MENA through Spocto by four times. Overall, the group expects to register 4x growth of its total consolidated revenue in FY23," said Sudha Rangarajan, Senior VP for Strategy and Capital Raise at Yubi.

Spocto will have 30 employees in MENA by the end of 2022 and by next year the headcount will grow 2-3x, she added.

Spocto was founded in 2016 by former General Electric executives Sumeet Srivastava and Puja Srivastava and has assets under management (AUM) worth of $50 billion across 37 clients.

Founded in 2020, Yubi turned unicorn in just 18 months after inception by raising $137 million in a Series B round that valued the firm at $1.3 billion. Yubi's investors include Insight Partners, B Capital Group, Dragoneer, TVS Capital, and Sequoia Capital.