Tunisian fintech and insurtech startup PAYDAY has closed a pre-seed financing round to accelerate its salary-linked financial services and group insurance platform. The round was led by UGFS North Africa, with participation from TALYS Group and BioProtection SA. According to materials shared by the company, the transaction values PAYDAY at $3 million and sets the stage for local and regional expansion.
Pre-Seed Round and Backers
UGFS North Africa leads the investor syndicate, bringing institutional capital that the startup says will help scale operations and technology. TALYS Group and BioProtection SA joined the round, adding sector and industrial expertise alongside financing. The company positions this mix as a strategic alliance designed to support product development, distribution, and long-term scalability.
Product and Model
Founded in 2024, PAYDAY digitizes salary advance requests and group employee insurance for employers and their workforces. Its model blends salary-backed financing with micro-Takaful protection to promote financial wellness and inclusion. The offering focuses on interest-free, credit-free mechanisms that aim to reduce administrative burden for companies while improving access to short-term liquidity and protection for employees.
Early Traction and Roadmap
Since launch, PAYDAY reports more than 10,000 transactions with aggregate volume exceeding 8.2 million Tunisian dinars, an early signal of product uptake. Building on this traction, the company is expanding into a broader financial and insurance aggregator that connects banks, microfinance institutions, and insurers. Management says this evolution will extend services beyond employers to reach employees and individuals directly through a fully digital experience.
Leadership and Vision
PAYDAY is led by co-founder and CEO Dr. Mohamed Anouar Gadhoum, with co-founder Shaher Abbas, and it is targeting low- and middle-income earners as a core beneficiary group. The team frames its mission around financial protection and economic well-being, combining insurance with cooperative finance principles. By digitizing workflows and underwriting anchored to payroll, the company aims to align affordability with responsible risk management.
Market Context and Impact
Salary-linked finance and embedded protection have gained momentum across emerging markets, where many workers face liquidity gaps between pay cycles. PAYDAY’s pitch to employers centers on productivity and retention benefits, while employees gain structured, transparent access to advances and coverage. The company plans to use the new funding to strengthen its technology stack, diversify product features, and widen reach across new customer segments.
Regional Ambition
Management describes the immediate priority as consolidating PAYDAY’s position in Tunisia, then scaling to select North African and regional markets. The aggregator strategy is intended to simplify access by bringing multiple financial partners under one digital roof. As integrations deepen, the platform expects to broaden use cases that support both day-to-day liquidity and longer-term resilience for workers.
With a pre-seed round led by UGFS North Africa and participation from TALYS Group and BioProtection SA, PAYDAY enters its next phase with capital and partners aligned around growth. Early transaction volumes, a payroll-anchored model, and a shift toward aggregation outline a clear roadmap for scale. The company’s focus on ethical, interest-free solutions positions it to compete for employers and workers seeking simple, compliant, and inclusive financial tools.