barq, the Saudi payments app that became a unicorn last month, has agreed to take over Beyon Money, the digital wallet owned by Bahraini telecoms group Beyon, mainly to get its licences.

Beyon Money’s operations will become part of barq, and Beyon will keep an economic interest in barq, the companies said on 7 October. The agreement was signed at the FinTech Forward 2026 conference in Bahrain. Neither side disclosed a price or the size of Beyon’s stake.

The deal still depends on final documentation, regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Beyon Money customers can keep using their accounts as normal.

Buying a regulatory base

Mohamed Alsabea, barq’s chief of staff and chief strategy officer, was direct about the reason.

“Beyon Money’s licences give us a regulated foundation to build on in new markets, the deal marks an important step in barq’s growth.”

Beyon Money launched in January 2022, operating through three entities regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain: Batelco Financial Services, Batelco Remittance Services and Beyon Money Investments. In May 2023 the central bank granted it a Class 2 investment licence. Its app covers payments, transfers and remittances, and in January 2026 its business wallet was integrated with EazyPay’s point-of-sale terminals in Bahrain.

Beyon has not published Beyon Money’s current customer numbers. In 2023 it said customers had grown tenfold in a year.

Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, chief executive of Beyon Digital Growth, said:

“Beyon Money is a strong example of how we build and develop digital businesses with the potential to create long-term value.”

barq’s expansion push

barq raised a $329.5 million Series A at a $1.85 billion valuation in September, the largest fintech deal in the Middle East and North Africa in the third quarter, according to Wamda. It says it has more than 15 million users and has processed more than SAR 440 billion ($117 billion) in transactions. It said the money would fund international expansion but didn’t name markets.

Its cross-border work so far has been through partners rather than licences of its own. barq has integrated with Western Union for international money transfers and partnered with Alipay+ in May 2026 to accept cross-border QR code payments. Owning Beyon Money would give it a licensed business of its own outside Saudi Arabia.

The Beyon Money deal is the first sign of where that could start. Neither company has said which licences will transfer, whether the Central Bank of Bahrain must approve the change of control, or when they expect the deal to close.