Hello, and welcome to today's edition of Founders International, your daily newsletter where we cover the stories, trends, and companies in tech and startups from outside of the US.

Here's what we're covering today:1. A rapidly growing BNPL company raises $58m2. French company, Kate, is creating tiny electric cars3. Apple's manufacturing expansion into India

Average read time: 3 minutes and 52 seconds

BNPL company Tabby raises $58M to serve MENA region

Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) companies have risen to prominence all over the world, with a lot of big companies like Walmart building their own solution, and companies like Affirm, Afterpay, and Klarna growing in popularity and size as well. Well, as you may or may not know, this is not limited to the US.

Tabby, a company based out of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates just raised $58m at a $660m valuation to continue its rapid growth and expansion over the MENA (Middle East/North Africa) region. It is now one of the highest valued companies in the region, and has raised a total of $410m since it was originally founded in 2019. I think I smell a unicorn in the making.

As of it's last round of financing, where it raised $50m at a $300m valuation, it had 400,000 shoppers using the platform, and over 3,000 installs were being recorded daily. While new numbers haven't been reported, we can only assume these numbers have increased significantly.

The company plans to use this new round of financing to begin offering new financial products to its existing customer base, as well as support the infrastructure being built out currently. Specifically, they have been reported to be looking into alternatives for consumers to pay online digitally. Is that an actual crypto use case I am hearing?

Whatever it may be, the company anticipates a lot of growth in this region around these types of financial products as it sees mainly cash based transactions now, but the options to do non-cash payments are growing with Tabby at the forefront. This is definitely a company to keep an eye on in the coming years.

A-Company-a-day

Company name: Kate - no, I'm not talking about your ex-girlfriendKate wants to create tiny cars that are specifically for short trips and daily commutes. And when I say tiny, this baby reminds me of one of my cousins old electric toy Jeep cars he used to drive around in the yard in.

Image credit: Kate

The company is based out of France, and is focusing on people living on the outskirts of towns, in mid sized cities, or countrysides. So, pretty much just anyone living outside of a big city. They are electric cars, and you don't even need a full license to drive one of these. They are technically classified as a heavy quadricycle, and people as young as 16 can drive them.

The selling point is that for short commutes and drives, you don't need the amenities, the cushy seats, nice infotainment systems, etc. Also, short drives account for a significant amount of the pollution that are generated from cars because they are the most common. They are targeting a release of the vehicle for 2024.Look, I am all for things that help climate change, are affordable, and get me from point A to point B. BUT, I also drive a pickup truck. I like my cushy seats, I like my infotainment system, and if I am going to get hit, I would much rather be the one higher and in a bigger vehicle so it lowers my chances of getting hurt.

I also am based in the US, specifically Minnesota where everything is usually bigger anyway, it gets down to -30 degrees in the winter, and I need myself some 4WD, so I am not in the target market for this. I definitely can see the appeal though, if you are in a warmer climate being able to take this for a drive, maybe go along a beach or countryside, music going with some friends, stop somewhere for dinner... okay yeah I want one.

Apple's Chinese Suppliers are Moving into India

Due to the recent wave of COVID sweeping through China, and that affecting the supply chain of its products, Apple has reportedly began looking at other options for places to manufacture their iPhones, AirPods, and other tech. A few of the suppliers for parts of these products that were based in China have recently gotten approval from the key Indian ministries to begin getting assemblies made there, with the caveat they still look for Indian joint venture partners.

This has come to sort of a surprise as in recent times India and China have been having some border issues, with India even going as far as to ban some Chinese apps such as TikTok.

It is not a surprise, though, that Apple has been okay with this move into India, as it is something they have been doing anyway with the Tata Group supplying parts to Apple for its devices, and JP Morgan reporting that 1 in 4 iPhones could be manufactured in India in 2025. They are also hiring for retail positions in India and looking to grow their overall market share there, with it being around a measly 3-4% of all smartphone sales in the Indian smartphone market.

If it goes well, we would expect to see more and more of Apple's supply chain be moved their as joint ventures in the area grow, and their own market share of smartphones grow too.

And that's all for today, if you want to get more follow us @twitterhandle, or respond to this email. Yes, we respond to all emails, including yours. Try us.

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Freaking sick dude⭐⭐⭐ Meh, do better next time⭐ Bruh, I might unsubscribe after reading that