PayLater's 30x growth sprint: Qatar's first central-bank-licensed BNPL
Key points
Key takeaways from Entrepreneur Middle East's interview with PayLater co-founder and CEO Mohammed Al-Delaimi at Web Summit Qatar 2026 (February 2026):
Qatar's first licensed BNPL. PayLater is one of the country's first central-bank-licensed buy now, pay later platforms — licensed by the Qatar Central Bank in January 2025 — offering Sharia-compliant instalments with no additional fees and full fee transparency.
30x growth in a year. Between Web Summit Qatar 2025 — when PayLater exhibited from a small stand inside the central bank sandbox with 10,000 customers and 50 businesses — and February 2026, merchants grew to 1,500 businesses and customers to 300,000.
Visa MOU. PayLater signed an MOU with Visa to issue cards linked to its platform through a local bank: app-monitored spending, credit-score feedback and AI-driven insights developed with Visa engineers, targeted for launch in Q3 or by year-end.
$10m seed round. The round was raised after PayLater proved its product live in the market, funding product development, market-share growth and hiring; the 21-person team plans to grow towards 30.
High spending ceilings. The Qatar Central Bank authorises PayLater spending limits of up to QAR 25,000 per transaction — compared with QAR 10,000 in Saudi Arabia — which the company says unlocks higher-ticket categories.
Sector expansion. After electronics as the leading category, PayLater is moving into furniture, car accessories, insurance, fitness, entertainment and travel, and has begun engaging universities and schools, with medical and luxury segments under consideration.
Funding tailwind. Al-Delaimi noted the Qatari prime minister's announcement of an additional $2 billion fund-of-funds at the summit as an opportunity for finance-focused technology companies such as PayLater.
Hiring philosophy. Founders need persistence and tunnel vision, teams should hire people smarter than them, and startups fail 90% of the time — so, in Al-Delaimi's view, entrepreneurs are made, not born.
Read more: Entrepreneur Middle East (YouTube) · Arabian Business
