Sinder Passes AED 1 Million in Deposits Two and a Half Months After Launch
The UAE fintech has roughly 750 sign-ups and 250 active users as it moves into a second phase that adds local payments, wallets and remittances.
Nadia Mansour Nadia Mansour covers fintech across the UAE and MENA for Anecdoted -- digital banking, payments licences and the startups building around them. nadia@anecdoted.com
Sinder has passed AED 1 million in cumulative customer deposits, about two and a half months after the UAE fintech opened its app to users.
Sign-ups sit at roughly 750. Of those, 500 accounts have been issued, and around 250 customers are actively transacting — the figure the company treats as its clearest evidence so far that the product is being used rather than simply downloaded.
That activity arrives as Sinder moves out of its launch configuration and into the second stage of its roadmap. The first version of the app targeted the cost and friction of spending abroad, built around a Zero-FX debit card. Phase 2 widens the remit considerably.
What Phase 2 adds
By the end of 2026, Sinder intends to bring in local payments, support for Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay, international remittance and peer-to-peer transfers. Those additions would take the platform from a travel-focused spending tool toward a general-purpose account for everyday use.
Christopher Hughes, founder and CEO, said the deposit number matters less to him than whether customers keep using the product. With roughly 250 people transacting, he said the team has grown more confident that it is addressing a genuine need for residents of the UAE.
In his account, the first phase was about demonstrating that Sinder could ship a working product and attract users. The second is about building a broader everyday financial platform, one where a customer can spend internationally, make local payments, send money overseas and move funds to other people from a single app.
Local first, then wider
Sinder's approach is to shape the product around internationally minded consumers, starting in the UAE and layering on functionality as it grows so the app is useful both at home and abroad. Payments, cross-border money movement and travel are the three areas the company is concentrating on over the coming months.
On funding, Sinder is working to close a pre-seed round, targeting approximately US$1 million in total over the next few months. The money would go toward product development, customer growth and the next stage of expansion.
Hughes said the company has kept its team small and its costs low while it put the product and underlying infrastructure in place. With usage climbing and the second phase under way, he said the capital being raised provides room to move faster without loosening discipline on spending.
New customers can also claim 20% off Roamless eSIM plans and 20% off Atlys visa services, alongside lounge access and hotel discounts.
