botim money revolutionises UAE's fintech landscape, paving the way for a cashless economy

Dubai: Astra Tech, the UAE-headquartered consumer technology company, has officially rebranded PayBy, the platform powering botim’s financial services, to ‘botim money’, in a move that consolidates all financial offerings under a unified, consumer-facing identity.

This step marks a strategic evolution in the company’s mission to simplify financial access for millions across the region while introducing an enhanced user experience designed for everyday convenience and accessibility. 

botim, which began as the UAE’s first free VoIP calling platform with over 150 million users globally, has evolved into the region’s most accessible gateway to embedded finance, supporting the UAE’s national drive toward a cashless economy, which is accelerated by the Dubai Cashless Strategy to go fully cashless by 2026.

It also aligns with the UAE's broader agenda to expand access, reinforced by the Central Bank of the UAE’s first National Financial Inclusion and Literacy Policies Forum.

“botim money is more than just a new brand name or mere product integration, it’s a reflection of our increasing commitment to financial inclusion and innovation at scale, and our way of turning connectivity into access.” said Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Board Member at Astra Tech and CEO of botim. “We first earned the trust of millions through communication. Now, we are transforming that into financial value. The users we connected are now the users we empower. This is what next-generation fintech should look like, simple, embedded, and shaped by real human needs.”

botim money is licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE, previously becoming the first fintech to secure dual authorization to operate as both a Retail Payment Services Provider and a Stored Value Facility under its PayBy branding.

Today, under its new identity, botim money continues to advance the UAE’s agenda by offering a simple, regulated alternative to cash. Users can access a comprehensive range of financial services from local and international transfers, prepaid cards, lending products like Send Now, Pay Later (SNPL), and investment options such as National Bonds and gold.                                                                                                                 

Alongside this, Astra Tech has unveiled ‘botim money for Business’, a dedicated B2B arm built to equip regional enterprises with scalable, compliant merchant solutions and payment infrastructure including secure salary disbursements, POS solutions and Wage Protection Systems (WPS).

This rebrand is more than a cosmetic update; it reflects a deeper design philosophy: the “Blueprint of Simplicity.” The new user interface puts communication, payments, transfers, and credit tools within easy reach, stripped of unnecessary jargon, with flattened menus and services reorganized based on real user behavior. The goal is to make managing finances feel as natural as messaging a friend.

To mark this milestone, botim has launched a nationwide brand campaign rooted in a simple but powerful gesture: the hand sign for love, reimagined to represent money. It’s a visual metaphor that ties finance to emotion, capturing how botim blends connection with meaning and speaks a universal language. The message behind the campaign is clear: money has many languages. botim understands them all.

botim is developed and owned by Astra Tech, the consumer conduit of the G42 ecosystem. While G42 leads AI transformation across sectors such as healthcare, energy, and space, Astra Tech delivers that intelligence into the hands of everyday users through communication and finance.

The rebrand of PayBy to botim money is a key milestone in that journey. It brings together the platform’s fintech capabilities into a single trusted destination, while laying the foundation for deeper AI integration, inclusive product development, and future-ready services across the region.