Explore the Fast Company Middle East’s Most Innovative Companies 2025 list, featuring 56 winning entries reshaping businesses and industries. We’ve selected the companies making the most significant impact with their initiatives across 24 categories, including the most innovative AI and data science, sustainability, energy, finance & fintech, and women-backed companies.

Fintech is driving a new era of financial intelligence. Digital platforms, AI, and blockchain transform how money is managed, moved, and invested. These companies are harnessing these tools to create agility, transparency, digitize lending, and promote financial inclusion. 

Beehive

For SME financing and promoting financial inclusion

Beehive has become a key player in digital SME financing, advancing innovation, transparency, and growth across the GCC. Over the past year, the company secured funding from Goldman Sachs and Magellan Capital to accelerate SME lending in the UAE, marking a major milestone for regional fintech investment. It is also expanding SME financing in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. Beehive has funded over 2,590 SMEs, empowering entrepreneurs, creating jobs, and enhancing economic resilience. Using AI-powered credit assessment and a fully digital marketplace model, Beehive connects businesses directly with institutional investors, reducing approval times from weeks to days while ensuring efficiency and transparency. Its Shariah-compliant financing options promote inclusive and ethical lending across the region. 

Saudi Investment Bank

For unified digital banking and sustainable growth

The Saudi Investment Bank has embedded innovation at the core of its operations, combining internal product development, employee-led ideation, and fintech collaboration under a unified framework of governance and sustainability. Over the past year, its Build engine, the bank’s venture studio, has launched a new retail mobile app offering faster onboarding and enhanced self-service features, a Travel app integrating planning, booking, and multi-currency payments, and the fastest digital onboarding process for corporate and SME clients in the market. Through its Empower program, SAIB Innovate enables employees to submit, validate, and pilot ideas, fostering a continuous flow of innovations informed by real customer and operational insights. Externally, the bank’s S60 venture capital arm and accelerator program provide startups with funding, mentorship, and integration opportunities within its ecosystem. This holistic approach has driven digital adoption, reduced onboarding times, unlocked new revenue streams, and enhanced customer engagement, all while supporting sustainable growth across the kingdom.

Wio Bank

For customer-first digital banking and wealth management

Wio Bank has emerged as a leading digital-first bank. Over the past year, Wio introduced the Wio Personal Salary Plan, helping professionals grow their wealth with market-leading interest rates, and expanded Wio Invest to include crypto and global portfolios. Wio Wealth offers hands-free management solutions, while AI Insights delivers personalized portfolio guidance like an in-app relationship manager. For businesses, Wio Business simplifies banking with fast digital onboarding, multi-currency accounts, WPS payroll, and financing solutions, now serving over 100,000 SMEs. Strategic partnerships with TAMM, Xero, Shory, and Alibaba Cloud integrate banking into broader ecosystems. Wio combines innovation, transparency, and accessibility, reshaping financial well-being and sustainable growth for individuals and SMEs in the UAE.

Ziina

For mobile payments that empower businesses and consumers

Ziina has emerged as the UAE’s leading homegrown digital payments platform. Over the past year, its product innovation has driven rapid adoption, including Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android, ZiiBoard in-chat payments, and multi-currency settlements. These innovations fueled a 38 percent quarter-on-quarter increase in users. By combining regulatory leadership, mobile-first design, and ecosystem integration, Ziina is democratizing access to digital payments, supporting SMEs, and fostering financial inclusion while ensuring sustainable environmental, social, and economic impact.