Dubai-based financial technology startup Ziina is testing a “payments keyboard” to allow businesses to send invoices through messaging apps.
The keyboard, which can be activated the same way as other add-on keyboards, will allow businesses to generate payment links and collect payments within the messaging apps – including WhatsApp, Messenger, Instragram, and Signal.
“Since its inception in 2020, we have made it our focus to design and build the most seamless way for individuals to send and receive money,” Ziina’s chief executive officer Faisal Toukan said in a statement.
The Dubai startup, which is backed by American accelerator Y Combinator, hopes to assist small business owners in the UAE “who run the entirety of operations themselves.”
It claims the new product, which is currently in beta testing mode, cuts transaction time from 20 minutes to 10 seconds.
“Businesses can now generate payment links and collect payments in three taps, from within the messaging app of their choice,” Toukan explained.
Only a select set of Ziina customers has access to the Ziiboard, the company said, adding they have filed a patent application for the product. After mass roll out, the keyboard can be accessed through Ziina’s mobile application.
Early this month, a study showed 88 percent of people in the UAE are using at least one emerging payment method in the last year. This plays in the region’s burgeoning fintech space, where the use of digital payments have accelerated rapidly during the pandemic.
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