Gainz and Cassbana Unite to Bridge $300B SME Financing Gap in MENA

Editorial Team

Last updated 8-10-2025

3 min

Gainz and Cassbana are collaborating to improve SME financing in the GCC through Shariah-compliant methods.

Cassbana will integrate Gainz's credit stack into a B2B "buy now, pay later" system.

This partnership aims to address a $300 billion SME financing gap with transparent, equitable access to capital.

Challenges like regulatory compliance could arise, but potential benefits might spread across regional supply chains.

The initiative represents a shift towards data-driven credit tools and embedded lending in the GCC fintech ecosystem.

Gainz, the UAE-based fintech platform known for addressing the yawning SME financing gap across the MENA region, has joined forces with Cassbana, the digital lending infrastructure powering trade finance for micro, small, and medium enterprises. The aim? To make smart, Shariah-compliant financing far easier to access for SMEs across the GCC.

I have to say, this feels spot on for the current wave of collaboration we’re seeing between fintechs in the Gulf. Under the new arrangement, Cassbana will integrate Gainz’s alternative credit stack into its B2B “buy now, pay later” system. That means suppliers, retailers, and small businesses will be able to interact through automated digital credit flows, with Gainz providing the actual liquidity that keeps the wheel turning. Sounds neat, but also quite ambitious.

Shehab Mohamed, Co-founder and CEO of Gainz, mentioned that the partnership perfectly aligns with their mission to bridge what they estimate as a $300 billion SME financing gap in the region. He explained that bringing together Gainz’s AI-driven underwriting tools and Shariah-compliant credit models with Cassbana’s tech-enabled lending network gives small businesses—in Oman and further afield—transparent, equitable access to capital. As someone who’s spoken to plenty of startup founders over the years, I reckon that kind of transparency is half the battle when it comes to building trust in finance.

On Cassbana’s side, General Manager Abdelrahman El Attar described the collaboration as another step in their journey to “reimagine credit” for underserved businesses. He emphasised that combining data, technology, and capital access—the three pillars of sustainable inclusion—could unlock whole new growth paths for MSMEs. And believe it or not, that’s not just marketing talk; fintech ecosystems across the GCC are genuinely shifting towards embedded lending and data-driven credit tools.

Still, partnerships like this aren’t without their challenges. Integrating systems, managing regulatory nuances, and keeping everything Shariah-compliant can be a bit of a faff. But if they pull it off, the benefits could ripple across supply chains from Muscat to Riyadh. At Arageek, we’ve always been chuffed to bits to see regional startups work together like this—because it’s exactly these cross-border synergies that give local entrepreneurs a fighting chance.

To put it simply, Gainz focuses on bridging businesses and investors through compliant crowdlending models, while Cassbana uses data-driven scoring to facilitate B2B financing. Together, they’re nudging the GCC closer to a financial ecosystem where even the smallest players can trade, grow, and thrive… slowly but surely.

Well, here’s hoping they can keep that momentum going—it’s definately a partnership worth keeping an eye on.

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