UAE-Based Metric Raises Seven-Figure Seed Round

UAE-based artificial intelligence (AI) fintech startup Metric has secured a seven-figure seed funding round to accelerate its growth across the Gulf, broader Asia, and other emerging markets.

The round attracted support from a variety of entities including Sanabil 500 Global, Hub71, i2i Ventures, Plus VC, Epic Angels, and Accelerate Prosperity, alongside notable angel investors. 

Founded by Meenah Tariq and Omar Parvez Khan in Dubai in 2022, Metric provides small business owners with streamlined access to financial services and funding through its AI-driven financial marketplace.

In an interview with Inc. Arabia, Tariq, co-founder and CEO of Metric, explained how her company's offering came to be. “For the last 10 years, I worked with thousands of businesses across emerging markets, and I saw, on one hand, the disconnect of the business owner from their own numbers, and on the other, the lack of sectoral benchmarks that would allow them to know if they were actually doing well, to chart their own growth,” she explained. “This results in suboptimal decisions taken daily, based on gut-feel and anecdotes instead of data.” 

According to Tariq, traditional accounting is built for accountants and regulators, not business growth, and, at the same time, complex finance software often scares business owners—all of which can lead to low growth for their enterprises, and sometimes even death. "Metric solves this by aggregating fragmented financial data and translating it into simple, bite-sized, actionable insights for the business owner," Tariq said. "By connecting to various accounting and business operation platforms, as well as bank accounts, Metric is able to extract financial information automatically, and give it back to business owners in the form of real-time metrics and insights."

Here, Tariq highlighted Max, the company’s Chief Financial AI, or CF-AI, which was built to streamline how entrepreneurs access and understand their finances, noting that the tool syncs with accounting systems, business tools, and banking platforms, and then uses the financial data to offer practical insights.  "Business owners can speak directly to their data through the Chief Financial AI, Max, who is able to answer questions, build forecasts in seconds, and share patterns and trends," Tariq explained. "Over time, the CF-AI is able to also provide sector and region trends, and guide the business owner to make better decisions." 

In addition to the CF-AI, Metric's AI-powered financial marketplace gives small business owners access to essential tools, from business debit cards and automated financial advice to funding opportunities—services that are typically hard to reach for entrepreneurs in underserved regions. “Metric also connects business owners to funding opportunities (we reduce know your customer costs for financial institutions) and other financial products, such as corporate debit cards, through our marketplace of partners,” she added. 

Tariq told Inc. Arabia that the fresh capital infusion in Metric will be used to strengthen its AI capabilities, which, in turn, will enable underserved entrepreneurs to simplify their operations and gain access to essential financial tools. It also aims to broaden its footprint across the MENA region, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, while enhancing the platform with new features.  

Looking ahead at the future of AI in finance, Tariq pointed out that the true power of AI agents like Max lies not just in their capabilities, but in the data they’re built upon. “I won't speak for all AI agents, though the value they offer is increasingly clear,” she said. “But specific for our Chief Financial AI, Max, the real value comes not from the AI agent, but the quality and depth of the data it is trained on.”  

She added, “Our CF-AI is built on top of Metric’s proprietary US$4.4 billion dataset spanning 190 markets. That's what changes the game completely, because even the best CFO in the world would not have those benchmarks or insights.” Tariq illustrated the potential by imagining a scenario that’s quickly becoming reality. “Imagine a CFO for your business that not only answers every question within minutes, based on real-time data from your business, but is also able to steer you based on aggregated anonymized sectoral and regional data,” she explained.

That said, Tariq emphasized that Max is not here to replace finance professionals, but that it can help to close the accessibility gap. “The CF-AI doesn't replace CFOs, because frankly, small and medium businesses do not have CFOs," she said. "They have almost no one, barring perhaps a part-time or junior account. It doesn't replace accountants, because the accountants will continue to do bookkeeping for compliance, and manage accounting systems and platforms. The CF-AI translates what an accountant isn't able to explain to business owners in business growth terms.” 

Reflecting on the challenge of scaling Max across diverse and complex markets, Tariq told us that she believes that the company’s early traction revealed a powerful insight. “What we discovered early on was surprising: our flagship app, initially available only in English and on Android, was organically adopted across 30 countries within the first 30 days of launch," she revealed. "By month 10, we had crossed 170 countries.”

According to Tariq, it was business size and maturity that proved to be the common thread in these different markets. “Digging deeper, we found that the core challenges faced by micro, small, and medium businesses are remarkably consistent across emerging markets, with only minor local variations,” Tariq explained. “When it comes to business growth, the stage and size of the business matter far more than the country!” 

That realization thus shaped Metric’s approach to international expansion. “This insight allows us to target a highly similar segment across markets (defined by business size, maturity stage, and sophistication of the owner), enabling us to deliver value efficiently, at scale, without losing focus,” she added. 

Reflecting on her own journey and the challenges faced by founders in the SME space, Tariq shared hard-earned insights for fellow entrepreneurs navigating the path of building and fundraising. “What really helped us is that we already had a decade of immersive experience in the segment and with the small- and medium-sized business owners that we ended up building a solution for,” she told Inc. Arabia. “Entrepreneurship is our passion. Metric’s mission is to elevate and empower entrepreneurs across emerging markets. We believe entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful forces for economic and social transformation, and yet, access to the right financial tools, funding, and growth support remains deeply unequal.” 

Tariq also emphasized the importance of passion in the startup journey. “The startup journey is brutal, and if you don’t have passion for what you are doing, it almost becomes impossible to persevere when things get tough,” she explained. “That’s why, for anyone setting out to build something meaningful, the first step must be radical self-honesty. When your ‘why’ is clear, it is easier to find investors, team members, and customers, and to keep growing!"

Pictured in the lead image are Metric CFO Omar Parvez Khan, CEO Meenah Tariq, and CTO Habiba. Image courtesy Metric.