← Embedded Finance Index 2026

Hesabe

“Can a Kuwait-origin payment gateway become the default embedded payments infrastructure for Middle East merchants by offering local payment methods (KNET) alongside global card schemes through a developer-friendly API?”

Founded2016
HQKuwait City, Kuwait
IndustryInfrastructure / Payments

The story

Hesabe was founded in 2016 as an internal payment collection system for a Kuwaiti corporate group's subsidiaries. As demand for online payment infrastructure grew in the region, the company opened its platform to external merchants, evolving into Kuwait's localised payment gateway. It now operates as a full-stack payment gateway for the Middle East, supporting KNET (the Kuwaiti national debit network), Visa/Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, with a developer-first positioning and e-commerce platform integrations.

Last 12 months

—

Product timeline

2016

Founded as an internal payment collection platform for processing payments among corporate subsidiaries.· pivot

2018

Expanded from internal platform to a public-facing payment gateway, offering services to merchants in Kuwait and the Middle East.· pivot

2023

Launched developer documentation portal with SDKs for Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Odoo, and multiple programming languages.· banking

2024

Introduced Smart POS API for in-store payment solutions alongside embedded direct payments and saved cards (Non-PCI) product.· card

The stack

1 layer disclosed in Hesabe’s embedded-finance stack

Payments / PSP

Hesabe Payment Gateway (self-operated)

Accounting gap: significant