Botim is expanding beyond its communications roots to build an AI-native fintech ecosystem spanning payments, remittances, credit and investment as the Abu Dhabi-based platform seeks to deepen its relationship with users across connected economies.
Serving more than 160M users across 155+ countries, including 8.5M in the UAE, Botim is using its established consumer distribution and everyday engagement to develop financial services around users’ changing needs.
For Sacha Haider, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Botim, the strategy centres on turning an existing communications relationship into a broader financial one.
Rather than introducing standalone financial products, Botim has progressively developed capabilities around how users already interact with the platform, creating a journey from everyday payments and international transfers to borrowing, saving and investing.
From connectivity to financial services
Originally established as the UAE’s first free VoIP provider, Botim has built a substantial international user base through its communications services.
Its financial expansion draws on the cross-border relationships already embedded in the platform, particularly among families and communities whose financial needs extend across countries.
The ecosystem now includes everyday payments, virtual IBANs, international remittances, regulated credit products and investment services.
Its virtual IBAN offering has no minimum salary or balance requirement, while multilingual onboarding can be completed in under three minutes.
Users can also send international remittances across more than 170 destination markets, extending the platform’s original proposition of connecting people across borders into the movement of money.
Extending access to credit and investment
Botim is also expanding into formal financial services through products including CashNow, SNPL and installment cards.
More than 1M CashNow profiles have been linked to the Al Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB), helping users establish a formal credit footprint.
The investment offering is designed to lower the entry point for first-time investors. Users can access digital gold from AED 10 while 70–80% of Botim’s investment users are first-time investors.
As of February 2026, users had completed in-app gold trades worth more than AED 100M.
The figures point to an expansion beyond payments and transfers towards products that support longer-term financial participation and wealth creation.
Scaling an interconnected ecosystem
Haider leads Botim’s operational scale, ecosystem partnerships and market strategy, drawing on previous investment experience across emerging markets including the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Latin America.
Before joining Astra Tech, she was a Partner at Global Ventures, with experience across businesses including Moniepoint and ABHI.
Today, Botim users spend approximately 20 minutes per day on the platform, which reaches the equivalent of 90% of the UAE population on a given day.
As part of Astra Tech and the wider G42 ecosystem, Botim combines consumer distribution, AI-native technology and regulated financial capabilities as it develops its financial services proposition.
The longer-term ambition is to make everyday finance an increasingly integrated part of the platform, allowing users to move from staying connected and sending money to accessing credit and building wealth through a single financial ecosystem.
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