Botim Pay (botim money / PayBy)
Money transfer app
The embedded money-transfer and payments arm of the Botim super-app in the UAE, letting users send international remittances and make payments under a Central Bank of the UAE license.
Last updated June 2026
At a glance
- Founded
- PayBy, the underlying payments platform, dates to around 2019-2020 as a UAE fintech (some company materials cite an earlier team heritage of 2005); it was acquired by Astra Tech in August 2022. Astra Tech, the current parent, was founded in 2022 by Emirati entrepreneur Abdallah Abu Sheikh. Botim itself originated earlier as a VoIP app.
- Headquarters
- Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Astra Tech, Al Reem Island), with a secondary office in Dubai's DIFC. Operations are UAE-based.
- Legal entity
- Not independently confirmed. The consumer-facing brand spans multiple legal entities: the underlying payments platform operated as PayBy (now branded "botim money"), the Apple App Store developer of record is listed as Algento Cloud Computing Limited, and the group's lending arm is Quantix LLC. All sit under parent Astra Tech. Treat the exact registered legal name as filed with UAE authorities as unknown.
- Regulation
- Licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE. The PayBy/botim money entity received Stored Value Facility (SVF) and Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes (RPSCS) authorizations from the CBUAE (reported granted around 5 January 2023), and was reported, per company statements and trade press, to be the first fintech to hold both Retail Payment Services and Stored Value Facility authorizations from the CBUAE.
- Astra Tech group affiliate Quantix LLC received a Central Bank of the UAE Finance Company license (reported 2024) for lending activities — a separate license from the payments entity.
Is Botim Pay (botim money / PayBy) safe and trustworthy?
botim money operates under explicit Central Bank of the UAE authorization (Stored Value Facility plus Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes, reported granted in January 2023) and is part of Astra Tech, a UAE group that raised a $500 million round led by Abu Dhabi AI group G42 in December 2022. The broader group's lending affiliate, Quantix, holds a CBUAE Finance Company license and secured a $500 million debt financing facility from Citi in December 2024, signaling continued institutional backing. The Botim app carries a high aggregate Apple App Store rating (about 4.3/5 from roughly 52,000 ratings), and the company reports a global user base exceeding 150 million. The consumer remittance product is relatively young (fintech services launched 2023, rebranded "botim money" in October 2025), so users may wish to confirm delivery times for their specific corridor.
History of Botim Pay (botim money / PayBy)
Botim began as one of the UAE's first widely-used free VoIP calling apps and grew during the COVID-19 period. Astra Tech, founded in 2022 by Abdallah Abu Sheikh, acquired the UAE payments company PayBy in August 2022 (about four months before its CBUAE licenses were announced on 5 January 2023) and acquired Botim in January 2023, combining them into an "ultra-app" strategy. PayBy provided the regulated payments rails, and its consumer financial services were later consolidated and rebranded as "botim money" on 7 October 2025. Abdallah Abu Sheikh founded Astra Tech but stepped down as CEO and sold his stake in November 2024.
Growth and scale
Botim reports a global user base exceeding 150 million across many countries, with roughly 8.5 million app users in the UAE (per company and press statements). The company reported that in its first four months after launch in early 2023 the PayBy-powered fintech services processed over $354 million in transactions (reported October 2023), citing rapid quarter-on-quarter transaction growth. Per the company, international transfers are offered to 150+ countries, with the most popular corridors being UAE-to-India, followed by Pakistan and the Philippines.
Where it stands today
Active in 2026. botim money operates as Astra Tech's fintech arm offering local and international transfers, prepaid cards, and lending ("Send Now, Pay Later"). Recent expansion includes a TerraPay partnership announced February 2026 to grow real-time remittances into Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt) via bank transfer and instant mobile-wallet payouts, alongside prior partnerships with Mastercard and Alipay+. Separately, Astra Tech's lending affiliate Quantix received a UAE Finance Company license (reported 2024), and in December 2024 secured a $500 million asset-backed (securitization) debt financing facility from Citi — reported as one of the largest financing deals for a UAE fintech, and a debt facility rather than an equity investment.
Does Botim Pay (botim money / PayBy) give the best rate?
Positions on convenience and integration within an app many UAE residents already use, rather than on an advertised lowest cost. Fees and exchange rates are not flat or published as a single headline number — botim money states that fees vary by destination country and transfer method and are shown in-app before payment, with the FX rate displayed dynamically per corridor. The company's marketing frames transfers as "more affordable" and "transparent" than traditional providers. As with all providers, the best rate varies by corridor and by day, so a live comparison at the moment of sending is what determines whether it is competitive for a given transfer.
Compare Botim Pay (botim money / PayBy)'s live rateWho Botim Pay (botim money / PayBy) is best for
Existing Botim app users in the UAE who want to send remittances or pay without switching to a separate app; major South Asian corridors (India — including UPI payout — Pakistan, Philippines, Nepal); and increasingly UAE-to-Africa mobile-wallet payouts (Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt) via the 2026 TerraPay partnership. Supports multiple payout methods: bank transfer/IBAN, cash pickup, digital wallet, and UPI.
Compare Botim Pay (botim money / PayBy) by destination
Sources
- Astra Tech — Wikipedia (founding, founder, acquisitions of PayBy and Botim, G42 funding, CBUAE licenses)
- Astra Tech Rebrands PayBy to 'botim money' in Fintech-First Push — The Fintech Times (dual CBUAE authorization, 150M users)
- Astra Tech's BOTIM records over $354mln transactions via PayBy in 4 months — Zawya (Oct 2023; volume, top corridors India/Pakistan/Philippines, 150M users)
- botim money Expands Global Remittances Through TerraPay Partnership — TerraPay (Africa corridors, real-time validation)
- International transfer — Botim (official page: 150+ countries, payout methods incl. UPI, fees vary by corridor)
Important — please read
Last updated June 2026. This page is provided for general information only and is compiled from publicly available sources, accurate to the best of our knowledge at the date shown. Information can change and may contain errors or omissions. Rate Wala is an independent comparison service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of Botim Pay (botim money / PayBy).
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