Cairo: valU, MENA’s leading Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) lifestyle-enabling fintech platform, and PayTabs Egypt, an affiliate of EFG Hermes Holding and MEASA’s award-winning e-payment powerhouse, announced today that they have signed a partnership with TicketsMarche — Egypt’s leading provider of tickets and the gateway to the country’s entertainment industry — to allow customers to finance and pay for their ticket purchases through valU and PayTabs Egypt. The partnership will also give entertainment goers who use valU exclusive pre-access to some of the country’s biggest events in sport, art, theater, and comedy.

Commenting on the partnership, Walid Hassouna, CEO of valU, said, “We are incredibly excited to have TicketsMarche on-board our partner network and to be working alongside PayTabs Egypt to bring seamless and secure BNPL financing solutions to TicketsMarche’s customers. With tourism ramping up and COVID-19 restrictions lifting, the country’s entertainment industry is bustling with events that are bringing people together once again. Conversely, high inflation has blunted customer purchasing power, lining the partnership up perfectly with the needs of our clients and market realities as we work to bring innovative solutions that ease day-to-day financial burdens and empower customers to attain their desired lifestyles.”

Egypt boasts a strategic, diverse, and competitive entertainment sector that is. The country is regionally renowned as an entertainment and cultural hub, hosting a myriad of concerts, plays, and more, and bringing together celebrities from around the world. TicketsMarche has had a significant impact on the industry, having taken the traditional brick-and-mortar approach to ticket buying completely digital, and giving an even wider segment of society direct, seamless access to key events. Today, it supplies a wide array of entertainment houses, venue owners, and event organizers and planners with an easy and feasible way to sell and market their tickets.

Hany Soliman, PayTabs’ Regional Head for Africa and the GCC, also commented, “We are delighted to be building on our partnership with valU and contributing to the growth of Egypt’s entertainment sector. This collaboration with TicketsMarche marks yet another landmark partnership between PayTabs Egypt and valU, as we come together again to capitalize on the synergies inherent in our business models and offer end-to-end financial services to the market. The dependence on secure digital payments continues to grow in Egypt at a rapid pace, aiding us in our strategy to fuel financial inclusion and digital intermediation by accelerating the shift to a cashless society.”

Mohamed Sirag, CCO at TicketsMarche, said, “We could not be prouder of this partnership with two giants in the fintech space such as valU and PayTabs Egypt. This will not only enable us to expand our customer base but also unlock unique and flexible funding methods for our customers, particularly during these trying times. TicketsMarche continues to play a pivotal role in driving the regional entertainment scene, and this partnership will support us in taking that success one step further. We believe that together we will elevate customer experiences by streamlining purchasing processes and increasing accessibility to our products.”

valU, a subsidiary of EFG Hermes Holding and PayTabs Egypt, an affiliate of EFG Hermes Holding, have worked throughout the year to offer a comprehensive roster of bespoke financing solutions in numerous sectors. Most recently, the two signed agreements with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies platform notchnco; the MENA’s first X2C online-offline auctioning and e-commerce marketplace Mazadat; Egypt’s leading airline EgyptAir; and real estate company Inertia.

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About valU

A subsidiary of EFG Hermes Holding established in 2017, valU is the leading Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) lifestyle-enabling fintech platform offering convenient and customizable financing plans up to 60 months. With more than 5,000 points of sale and over 550 websites, valU offers access to a wide network of retail and e-commerce providers across a diverse array of categories including home appliances, electronics, home finishing, furniture, residential solar solutions, healthcare, education, travel, and fashion, among others. As the first platform of its kind in the MENA region, valU customers can receive instant credit decisions through their devices and gain access to the ever-growing platform’s partners.

About PayTabs Egypt

PayTabs Egypt Solutions is Egypt’s most innovative provider of digital payment solutions. The company is a joint-venture between PayTabs, MENA’s award-winning provider of fintech and B2B payment solutions, and EFG Hermes, the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets (FEM). PayTabs Egypt provides merchants with the market’s leading online payment gateway solutions. It further supports multiple digital payment options, white labelling platforms and a range of e-commerce, m-commerce, and social commerce solutions. For more on PayTabs Egypt milestones visit https://site.paytabs.com/en/egypt/

For further information, please contact:  
The EFG Hermes Holding Public Relations Team
PublicRelations@EFG-HERMES.com

May El Gammal
Group Chief Marketing & Communications Officer of EFG Hermes Holding
melgammal@efg-hermes.com

About TicketsMarche

TicketsMarche has been established in the region since 2008. It has become the leading ticketing company in the country, elevating the entertainment industry and transforming the ticketing experience in the minds of generations. International concerts, groundbreaking theatrical performances, conferences, film festivals, sporting events, and more, have become a one click ticket buying experience. With its customers in mind, TicketsMarche continuously works to develop and facilitate its services, to offer the best user-friendly system possible.

Note on Forward-Looking Statements

In this press release, EFG Hermes Holding may make forward looking statements, including, for example, statements about management’s expectations, strategic objectives, growth opportunities and business prospects. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts but instead represent only EFG Hermes Holding’s belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature are inherently uncertain and are beyond management’s control and include among others, financial market volatility; actions and initiatives taken by current and potential competitors; general economic conditions and the effect of current, pending, and future legislation, regulations, and regulatory actions. Accordingly, the readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made.