Botim AI is a chat assistant designed to elevate user engagement and interaction, offering free, seamless access to cutting-edge features directly within the Ultra App. Users will benefit from intelligent, AI-driven conversations and assistance across various areas, including productivity, education, research, and everyday problem-solving.

H.E. Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Board Member and CEO of Astra Tech, commented: “The launch of Botim AI marks a significant milestone in our journey to revolutionize digital communication in the MENA region. By integrating advanced AI capabilities, we are enhancing user experiences and setting new standards for intelligent, seamless interactions. This innovation underscores our commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to meet the evolving needs of our users, while advancing our mission to deliver more inclusive solutions that empower individuals from all demographics and enable frictionless engagement with our solutions.”

The AI currently supports chat-based interactions, with enhancements such as web search capabilities and action-based integration planned for future phases.

As part of its strategic evolution, Botim is advancing toward the deployment of executional AI, enabling users to complete tasks in their native language with ease. This innovation meets the growing demand for inclusive AI solutions that ensure seamless, accessible interactions, empowering individuals from all backgrounds to engage effortlessly with the Ultra App.

Botim AI represents a significant step forward in the evolution of communication apps in the MENA region, offering users a smarter, more interactive way to connect and engage.

Easily accessible from the landing page, Explore, and Search sections of the app, Botim AI allows current users to simply update to the latest version to access these new features directly on the landing page. Additionally, users can securely save chat history for future reference and have the option to delete past conversations for privacy and control.

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The financing is among the largest provided to a UAE fintech company to date, representing a significant step in enhancing financial innovation across the region. It reflects Quantix’s positive financial performance, strong balance sheet, fast growing and diverse portfolio of lending products.

Quantix, the first UAE-based fintech to receive a Finance Company License from Central Bank of U.A.E since 2008, will use the funds to expand its range of financial services. This financing will support Quantix’s growth and solidify Astra Tech as a leading fintech innovator in the Middle East.

This milestone reinforces Astra Tech’s vision for its Ultra app, a platform transforming how users access essential services. The Ultra app integrates services such as payments, Cross Border Transfer, and financing solutions into a seamless ecosystem. With over 150 million users globally, Astra Tech is poised to deliver a frictionless financial experience, connecting consumers to a full suite of services within a single app—a first in the region.

H.E Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Board Member and Managing Director of Astra Tech, stated: “The fintech sector is undergoing a rapid transformation, attracting significant global investment. The GCC, and particularly the UAE, continues to exhibit strong growth despite global macroeconomic challenges. This financing from Citi allows Quantix and AstraTech to expand the Ultra app ecosystem, offering users a seamless financial experience. Our vision is to build an all-in-one platform that simplifies and empowers consumers’ financial decisions—whether it’s securing loans or managing everyday finances. This is just the beginning, as we continue to scale and redefine the future of financial services in the region.”

Maria Ivanova, Citi Country Officer and Banking Head for the UAE, added: “We are excited to support Quantix’s impressive growth. Astra Tech’s innovative approach and dedication to bridging technology and finance have set a new standard in the region. We are also impressed by the exceptional work of Astra Tech’s team, whose expertise and leadership have been instrumental in executing this landmark deal.”

Since its inception, Astra Tech has evolved from an emerging tech company into a dominant force in fintech. Its diverse portfolio, including PayBy, Botim, and Rizek, has transformed how users in the region engage with technology. Astra Tech’s dedication to financial innovation, innovation, and user experience has propelled its growth from a start-up to the fintech powerhouse in the region, driven by a mission to empower people through technology.

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Botim is a powerful digital tool meant to ease every user’s life through access to services such as Botim Money for peer-to-peer transactions and international transfers, Botim Stores with access to 100,000+ stores including, and advanced video services such as tutoring and telemedicine later this year. Botim 3.0 is available to users around the world providing the world’s only seamless and open access to communicate and transact to and from the MENA region.

The Ultra platform differs from super platforms in that it is built on top of a more frequently used case, communication, which eliminates the need for users to learn new behaviors to adapt to the platform. Through communication, many other services are enabled, leading to very high adoption rates from users.

Abdallah Abu Sheikh, Co-Founder and CEO of Astra Tech, Botim’s parent company, stated: “The app space has become overcrowded over the past few years, with many platforms that are now causing a serious case of app noise and fatigue to users. We believe that a chat-based approach to offer all our services, on top of BOTIM, will provide users of all backgrounds and demographics with a single access point to the services they need, making our services inclusive and scalable.”

BOTIM launched its first fintech service and the world’s first in-chat international money transfer a few weeks ago with tremendous success in the UAE, India, and the Philippines, changing the remittance landscape regionally and showcasing the power of the Ultra platform. With millions of users now able to transfer money easily and securely, BOTIM is revolutionizing how people manage their finances. BOTIM is now expanding its financial services through its sister company, PayBy, to offer a fully integrated wallet that includes peer-to-peer, payments, and personal financial solutions. With licenses from the Central Bank-UAE and the largest user base in the region, BOTIM is cementing its position as a leading financial technology platform.

BOTIM continues to demonstrate its innovative approach and establish itself as a top technology player by introducing the world’s first executional Arabic GPT. This groundbreaking system will enable users to easily execute a wide range of tasks within the Botim ecosystem, including booking airline tickets, ordering coffee, initiating international money transfers, scheduling tutoring sessions, sending meeting invites, and more. With a global user base of over 150 million, BOTIM’s executional Arabic GPT will redefine how people access and use digital services.

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BOTIM’s Arabic Chat GPT is an AI-powered platform that will cater to all BOTIM services, ensuring the information provided is always current and accurate by continuously sourcing latest information from local markets. BOTIM GPT has the potential to revolutionize the Middle East, by offering various services like international money transfers, bill payments, government services, and weather checks. The platform is under development to expand in the upcoming months to include additional services such as BOTIM stores and healthcare services, making it the ultimate one-stop-shop for users in the region.

Abdallah Abu Sheikh, Co-Founder and CEO of Astra Tech, BOTIM’s parent company, stated: “BOTIM’s Arabic Chat GPT marks another significant step towards simplifying people’s daily lives and transforming the global tech industry while also enhancing the capabilities of our upcoming Ultra app. We are very excited to leverage the Arabic language modeling experts at MBZUAI to pilot the service on BOTIM for our select users as we train the model. The Middle East is poised to experience a 20% annual growth rate in AI by 2030, and the UAE is set to lead the region with an average annual contribution of nearly 35%. We are excited to be at the forefront of technological innovation and creating new opportunities with local academic collaboration.”

Sultan al Hajji, Vice President of Public Affairs and Alumni Relations, MBZUAI, added that “This new collaboration with Astra Tech underscores how the university’s research and subject matter expertise in natural language processing (NLP) is being deployed to address challenges and enable enhanced services for industries and their customers. We welcome further opportunities to align our scientific focus with the UAE and wider region’s vision for innovation in technology and communications.”

Initially, BOTIM GPT will be available to a select group of its 100 million-plus user base before gradually expanding in the near future. Following the testing phase, users can input their inquiries into the chat field, and the model will process the sentence, providing source URLs that redirect them to more information about a particular service of interest.

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This first-of-its-kind agreement will allow users in the UAE to transfer money and pay bills in a new and convenient way. Astra Tech is introducing a new service to the BOTIM app called Bill Payments, which aims to make everyday payments easier for users. Under this agreement, Fawry will provide all Egyptians residing in the UAE who use the BOTIM application with solutions to pay utility bills and subscriptions and carry out financial transactions in Egypt. Customers can also withdraw financial money from the UAE through the BOTIM, powered by Payby, application through Fawry’s payment and collection channels. This agreement is a game-changer, providing users in the UAE with a new and innovative way to manage their everyday payments.

By utilizing this new service, users in the UAE and GCC can pay a wide range of bills and invoices in Egypt, such as utility bills, school, and university fees, driving and car licenses, club memberships, and medical and social insurance, through the BOTIM app. Adding to sending money services, Fawry will support the local beneficiaries of money remittance in Egypt to disburse the money through Fawry Channels.

Abdallah Abu Sheikh, Co-Founder and CEO of Astra Tech, BOTIM’s parent company, said “We are excited to work with Fawry to bring a seamless and hassle-free bill payment experience to our users in Egypt. This collaboration represents a significant milestone in our expansion strategy, particularly in the promising Egyptian market, and our commitment to driving digital transformation and financial inclusion in the region.”

Eng. Atef Magdy, CCO, Financial Services, Digital Solutions & International Business, added “The partnership between Fawry and Astra Tech is a concrete manifestation of Fawry’s strategy to attract new segments from various sectors and offer them the benefits of its digital services and solutions. It also reflects Fawry’s unwavering commitment to expanding its financial business and services and reaching the broadest possible audience to provide cutting-edge payment technologies that are both easy and secure. This further strengthens Fawry’s position as a leading platform in the digital payment market and solidifies its position as the preferred choice for Egyptian citizens”.

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“As we increasingly look to capture growth by opening our global network to new use cases, we are thrilled to offer our leading international money transfer capabilities on BOTIM, Astra Tech’s latest and most substantial acquisition,” said Alex Holmes, MoneyGram Chairman and CEO. “With BOTIM becoming the MEA’s region’s most trusted consumer platform, this will enable us to extend our reach to the millions of consumers who use it, enabling seamless communication and money transfer for businesses, family, and friends around the world. This partnership is a prime example of how MoneyGram strategically and efficiently reaches new customers worldwide through innovative channels.”

Abdallah Abu Sheikh, Astra Tech’s Founder and BOTIM’s CEO, said: “Partnering with MoneyGram will allow us to leverage their unparalleled security and offer BOTIM users world-class financial services. We are revolutionizing the sending of international money transfers by making it as easy as text messaging and removing the hassles of standing in long lines, tedious form-filling, and unnecessarily carrying cash or paying additional fees. This represents our ability to connect people not only socially but also financially while demonstrating our arrival as the first chat-based communication platform that enables people to send money home with a click of a button.”

With nearly nine million expatriates living in the UAE, this partnership positions MoneyGram to accelerate its digital growth further and promote financial inclusion in a region dominated by outbound international payment transfers

The partnership will be live soon for consumers.

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Astra will continue its pursuit of strategic acquisitions for BOTIM while synergistically working with its architecture, research, development, and tech teams to fast-track design and development to go to market. The acquisition of BOTIM is a landmark transaction for the MEA’s tech scene, as the app is the region’s largest and most popular MENA-built communications platform. BOTIM boasts 90 million registered users and 25 million active users. The acquisition gives Astra Tech a massive advantage as it plans to expand beyond super apps and build the region’s first Ultra app with BOTIM. Additional plans for BOTIM, are expected to be announced in Q1 of 2023.

Abdallah Abu Sheikh, a serial entrepreneur in MEA and the founder of Astra Tech, is spearheading the formation of BOTIM’s relaunch and will emphasize the importance of creating a monolithic app with several services, an intuitive interface, and a strong value proposition for customers and merchants with scalable and profitable unit economics. BOTIM’s relaunch will reshape the boundaries of the digital ecosystem to combat the customer fatigue that stems from multiple platforms trying to force unnatural user behaviour through scattered digital offerings.

Abdallah Abu Sheikh, Founder of Astra Tech, said: “The need for an all-encompassing app accessible to all customers that can re-steer economics in the right direction while giving customers, merchants, and investors a fair deal is paramount. BOTIM will be the first of its kind in the region to simplify interactions of hundreds of millions of users, allowing them to engage and transact seamlessly. Acquiring BOTIM puts us on a path to continue our mission of disrupting consumer technology and building a global benchmark of what an Ultra-app should look like.”

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Founder and CEO of Astra Tech, Abdallah Abu Sheikh, commented: “We are honored to have secured the license from UAE’s Central Bank which marks a huge milestone achievement for both Astra Tech and PayBy. We’re excited to launch our secure payment solutions to customers and merchants in the UAE to enable smoother digital transactions and make everyday commerce friction-free. We have always aligned with the UAE’s vision of creating a cashless ecosystem and are thankful to the Central Bank for trusting us with our secure technology. Astra Tech will stay true to its mission of offering a more robust value proposition to customers and merchants by eliminating the burden of unfavorable & compounded commission structures that are usually passed on to suppliers, partners, and consumers by today’s super apps.”

Astra Tech is acquiring and equipping sector-leading customer-centric businesses with disruptive and progressive technologies that will enrich merchants’ and users’ lives with effortless usability and efficiency, a gap that currently remains unfulfilled in the UAE digital commerce space today.

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Backed by prominent global and regional investors, the round is meant to equip Astra Tech with the resources to expand its portfolio of smart solutions across e- commerce, communications, fintech, news, and more.

The brainchild of serial entrepreneur Abdallah Abu Sheikh, Astra Tech is a pioneer in the Middle East and Africa’s tech start-up ecosystem, with a primary focus on smart and integrated consumer services and technologies.

Commenting on this announcement Peng Xiao, Group CEO – G42 said “At G42, we are continuously seeking to combine exceptional human talent with the necessary technical and financial resources to enable the development of the most advanced AI powered- solutions for both the public and private sectors. We are pleased to be supporting Astra Tech with its latest round of funding, one that will establish it as the go-to regional platform for consumer technology and services.”

Abdallah Abu Sheikh, founder & CEO of Astra Tech, said “As we celebrate this new milestone, we are grateful for the confidence and trust our partners and investors have placed in us. Our disruptive next generation ultra-platform will bring together selected consumer technologies, products, and services and is specifically designed to address the platform fatigue many users are experiencing today. At Astra Tech, we continuously seek to align with the national drive for digital transformation by delivering an innovative and revolutionary ecosystem, something beyond what the super platforms of today have to offer.”

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