Clear expands operations to UAE, Bahrain, Oman

The five GCC nations of the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait have been targeted for expansion by the fintech online taxes and software startup Clear. In Saudi Arabia, the startup has already attained notable milestones and experienced business growth.

Over 200 significant enterprise clients have been added by Clear to support its growth in the Middle East. The startup already provides services to some significant conglomerates, with over 20 group firms and more than 1,000 retail locations.

After raising $75 million in funding the previous year, Clear began operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) by introducing invoicing and taxing products for medium-sized to large businesses. The cloud-based e-invoicing software scales to millions of transactions per day, has a 99.9 per cent uptime rate, and connects to numerous ERPs and billing platforms via API architecture.

Rohit Razdan, Chief Business Officer of Clear, shared his perspectives on the GCC expansion of Clear and noted that as part of their strategy for the digital economy, GCC nations are undertaking a variety of digital-first projects.

Businesses are rigorously adhering to all tax and compliance rules set by the government as the scope of digitization grows and are demonstrating a high level of desire to comply with the changing regulations. However, the majority of them are searching for top-notch solutions that are regularly updated with new laws.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 has seen the kingdom pouring serious investments into digital innovation.

Seeing that organizations have a greater propensity to adopt newer technology under his regime, Clear has invested a sizeable portion of its funds in localising the product line, which included adding support for Arabic, setting up cloud infrastructure inside the Kingdom, and tailoring the product to fit regional business requirements.

The business has also made significant brand-building investments. Similar to India, Clear is collaborating closely with governmental organisations like ZATCA (the Saudi Arabian tax authority) to introduce appropriate tools for corporate needs, such as VAT compliance, accounts payable and receivable automation, and B2B payments, in the coming quarters.

Bahrain is anticipated to debut by January 2024, while Oman has stated that its mandate for e-invoicing will go live in the second half of 2023. In the upcoming months, Clear will introduce its e-invoicing solutions in these nations.

The fintech firm is well-positioned to assist businesses with digital payments, the digitization of corporate operations, regulatory mandates on the digitization of tax and compliance, and the generally rising acceptance of cloud-based technological solutions.