UAE-Based Comfi Pockets US$65 Million Pre-Series A To Expand Its B2B Embedded Finance Offering

Dubai-based fintech Comfi, a B2B embedded finance platform, has bagged US$65 million in a pre-Series A funding round comprising both equity and debt, which will see it scale its operations and expand across markets in the MENA region. 

The equity portion of the round was led by UAE-based venture capital (VC) firm Iliad Partners, with participation from Dubai-based investment firm Yango Ventures and UK-based VC firm Raw Ventures, both marking their first investments in the region. The funding also includes a credit facility from US-based growth debt provider Partners for Growth and a mezzanine facility structured by UAE-based investment firm Shorooq, with additional participation from a family office. 

Founded by Alisher Akbarov, Dennis Gavrilin, Amal Abdullaev, and Sanjar Samiev in the UAE in 2023, Comfi provides manufacturers and suppliers with flexible payment solutions for their buyers, while ensuring upfront payments for themselves. Its core product allows suppliers to extend up to 90-day payment terms to buyers while receiving payments within 24 hours, addressing prolonged B2B payment cycles that constrain SME liquidity. The company says that it has processed more than 15,000 invoices since starting operations and currently works with over 4,000 finance leaders and serves more than 1,000 clients. 

Speaking to Inc. Arabia, Samiev noted how firsthand experience highlighted the gap that he ultimately set out to address by launching Comfi with his co-founders. “In my early days, when I was building a manufacturing business and managing supply chains across the region, I noticed the same broken cycle kept showing up," he said. "We SME owners invest upfront, fulfill the order, then wait months to get paid. Meanwhile, costs didn't stop. The options to access capital quickly were limited too. Only 9.5 percent of total lending facilities from traditional sources in the region go to SMEs. The gap between what suppliers needed and what the market offered was massive."

It is thus to address this disconnect that Samiev and his co-founders designed Comfi to remove operational burdens tied to payments and collections, and thereby supporting business continuity. “We ensure suppliers get paid upfront while giving buyers the flexibility to pay flexibly," Samiev explained. "We take on the complexity of risk and collections so our customers can focus on growth. Today, we've served over 1,000 SMEs, and processed more than 15,000 invoices across multiple industries. The problem hasn't changed. Neither has the mission: enable quick capital access where it's needed, when it's needed."

According to Samiev, delayed B2B payments can be likened to a broader structural issue that limits SMEs' ability to grow across the region. “SMEs in this region have effectively been forced to operate like banks," he noted. "They run their own informal credit checks on customers, deploy personal or family capital into inventory just to fulfill orders, and then spend weeks managing collections before they can access money they've already earned. That's not a cash flow problem. That's a broken system."

But as embedded as the issue may be, Samiev noted that the conditions required to address it have now come into place. "What's changed is a combination of things coming together at the right moment," he explained. "Government data infrastructure across the region is now far more robust. Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven underwriting can extract meaningful signals from data points that traditional credit models simply ignored. And the digitization wave that followed the COVID-19 crisis accelerated market readiness significantly—businesses that were hesitant about digital financial tools in 2019 had no choice but to adapt by 2021. The market was always ready. The acquisition and underwriting approaches just needed to catch up.” 

Comfi’s $65 million pre-series A funding round is thus a strong vote of confidence from investors, reflecting that they, too, are ready to support this transition that Samiev has suggested. The newly raised capital is set to help scale Comfi’s underwriting and risk capabilities, expand its product suite, and support its growth across key markets in the region. Samiev also pointed out that the structure of the round, which combines equity, credit facilities, and mezzanine financing, was designed to align different types of capital within a single framework. 

“Every investor in this round saw a different opportunity—and that's exactly what made the structure work," Samiev said. "The venture debt and credit facility players saw a clear path to originating high volumes of capital securely through Comfi and earning through Comfi and earning their yield. The equity investors saw the growth trajectory and wanted to be in the same boat early. These aren't conflicting motivations—they're complementary ones. What the structure ultimately gives us is freedom. We can grow aggressively for the next 18 months without the pressure of an imminent raise, and we have the time and resources to build toward a significantly larger round from a position of strength.” 

With Comfi's fundraise coming at a time when geopolitical tensions in the region continue to put pressure on supply chains and business sentiment, Samiev offered his two cents on how founders can approach capital decisions while maintaining operational stability. “Cash is king right now—but protecting cash should never come at the cost of stopping growth entirely," he said. "The two can coexist if you're disciplined about how deals are structured. Push for upfront payments wherever possible. Tighten contract terms. Think carefully about supply chain exposure—smart logistical re-routing and reducing import dependency where feasible can meaningfully reduce your vulnerability to the volatility we're seeing. On fundraising specifically, if your burn allows it, wait. A few months of patience could be the difference between raising at a compressed valuation today, versus raising from a position of leverage in a more stable environment. Investors are still deploying, but pricing reflects uncertainty right now. If you don't have to accept that discount, don't.” 

Pictured in the lead image are Comfi co-founders Alisher Akbarov, Sanjar Samiev, Dennis Gavrilin, and Amal Abdullaev. Image courtesy Comfi.