Zeal raises $10 million to put customer insight into store payments

Egypt-founded fintech Zeal has raised a $10 million Series A to take its SmartPOS Plugin across the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Rather than asking a retailer to replace its checkout hardware, the software plugs into compatible card terminals and lets merchants recognize customers, connect transactions to customer data, and run loyalty or follow-up campaigns—capabilities online stores have long had. Zeal says the round brings its total funding to $14 million and will help it expand integrations with payment providers; it has signed contracts intended to activate its technology on more than four million terminals over the next 24 months. The bet is that payment infrastructure can become a practical channel for building customer relationships, not just collecting money.