Joining me in the studio is Gaurav Sachdeva, co-founder of Founders Majlis, Chief Business Officer at X Square, and co-chair of MFTA Qatar. Gaurav, welcome to Wall Street to Mena. Qatar is mourning today following the passing of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the architect of the modern Qatari economy. What does his legacy mean for the economy and the financial scene in Qatar?
A lot was built under Sheikh Hamad — he built the country. It's a great loss. If you look at Qatar's financial infrastructure, the model is to build the layers first and then create the noise. How banks, regulators, fintechs, and startups come along — that's the depth level. The UAE is more of a magnet model. Saudi is a scale model. Qatar is about depth — build the infrastructure layers first, and then create the noise. And that's what we're now starting to see.
Everyone is talking about Saudi and the UAE in fintech. Why is Qatar not getting enough credit?
I don't think it's being ignored. Qatar builds first and creates noise later — and I think that's the right order. Let me unpack it. We have close to 100% internet penetration and 96% contactless wallet penetration. Fintech startups have doubled in Qatar since 2020. QFC is doing an amazing job allowing new entities in. And now with Web Summit and QIA announcing an initial $1 billion fund of funds — now topped up to $3 billion — and close to 12 VCs setting up here. It's build first, create noise later.
You co-founded the MFTA Qatar chapter in 2024. What gap were you trying to fill?
The gap was connection. Banks, regulators, and fintech startups were all in the market, but it was very difficult to bring all three to a neutral table. What we tried to do was bring them together in a neutral way. What I'm really proud of is not the events or roundtables we hosted — it's how those connections between fintechs and banks helped them move from conversation to proof of concept to real live transactions. Our role is to create rooms where ecosystem players can sit at the same table and have the conversation. The second thing is voice — when we started, fintechs had no voice with regulators. Now we actually represent their concerns and policy considerations directly to the regulator. We weren't reinventing the model — we were finding what works best for Qatar.
Qatar's real-time payment system Fawran has been rapidly adopted by corporate treasuries for high-value B2B payments. What does that tell us about where Qatar fintech is gaining traction?
Quietly is the word. We built the infrastructure first — Fawran was initially open for P2P payments, and when we opened it for B2B, treasuries and corporates started engaging. If you look at what Qatar Central Bank published in April, Qatar processed total payment volumes of 112 billion riyals — double on a year-on-year basis. 80% of that is account and bank transfers, which increased 68% on volume. The transaction count is still driven by card networks, but the volume is growing. When banks adopt this kind of infrastructure, they look for speed, agility, and security — something stable and proven. That's exactly what this model is delivering.
How would you describe the scene in Qatar right now?
There is a lot happening. The Qatar advantage is its own DNA — startups get faster regulatory approvals, and movement between banks and regulators is quicker because the market is smaller but significant in volume. I've seen Snoonu acquired by Jahez for over 1.1 billion — a real exit. I've seen VC funds setting up in Doha. There's a need for quality talent, ten-year golden visas, tax residency, and a 10% corporate tax rate. And Qatar can reach 80% of the world in under six hours. A lot has happened since FIFA — the infrastructure is there. I'd welcome anyone to come and have a conversation.
Qatar Financial Centre just signed a deal with Al Bank to develop digital assets and tokenization use cases. Is Qatar quietly building a digital asset hub?
Quietly is absolutely the right word. Let me give you the trend line. In 2023, QFC set up a Digital Asset Lab with 20 startups. In 2024, they all moved to POC stage. Now in 2026, Al Bank has signed up — which means it's moved from startup sandboxes to a real go-to-market stage. What Qatar is trying to do is build a tokenization hub — real estate, sukuk, insurance, bonds, and even gold. They are not trying to play the crypto game. They want to play in real world asset tokenization.
B2B payments is your specific focus at X Square. What is still broken about how businesses in Qatar and the GCC pay each other?
If you look at how a B2C payment works — buying a coffee, sending money — it's simple and easy. But when businesses pay each other, it still feels like 2010. There are manual cash flows, cheques floating around, reconciliation issues — very fragmented. What X Square does is connect three dots: invoicing, reconciliation, and payment. When those three are connected, you can add credit. That opens up cash flow, treasury, and working capital management for businesses. One of our hero products allows a corporate to pay a supplier who doesn't accept cards — the corporate uses their Mastercard corporate card to make the payment, and the supplier receives it directly in their bank account. That gives corporates additional working capital to deploy.
How do you see Qatar's fintech ecosystem moving forward over the next five years?
Three trends. First, tokenization — Qatar will become a tokenization hub. Second, open finance — the Qatar Central Bank is developing open banking and open finance guidelines, moving towards SME finance, lending, and embedded finance. X Square will play a role there. Third, payment orchestration — banks and startups working together through an orchestration layer. Underneath all of this is capital. There's $3 billion coming in, talent is arriving, and acquisitions are happening. It's not a zero-sum game either — companies can set up in Qatar, raise funds in the UAE, raise from Saudi, and run their rails from Qatar. It all works in tandem. I'd advise anyone looking to expand to seriously consider Qatar.
Building fast and making noise too. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Thanks for having me.
