6 Fintech Startups, $1.8M Raised: NBO's Second Accelerator Cohort

Oman's banking and startup worlds converged in Muscat on June 25, 2026, as the National Bank of Oman (NBO) wrapped up the second cohort of its flagship Fintech Accelerator Programme. Six early-stage companies took the stage, collectively showcasing solutions that touch every corner of personal and business finance. Three of the six secured investment deals during the programme, with total funding raised across all participating startups reaching up to USD 1.8 million, according to Times of Oman.

Key Takeaways

• Six startups graduated, covering payments, fraud, AI credit, wealth, and personal finance
• Combined investments reached up to USD 1.8 million across the cohort
• Aman, built under Oman's RIA Upgrade Programme, is an automated fraud monitoring platform
• NBO has now graduated 11 fintech startups across two cohorts since 2025
• The programme directly supports Oman Vision 2040's digital economy and financial inclusion goals

🚀 Meet the Six Startups

The second cohort brought together some of the most technically ambitious teams yet seen in Oman's fintech space. Here is a breakdown of each company and what it has built.

The range is notable. Rushd Capital targets Oman's large Muslim-majority market, where demand for Sharia-compliant financial products has historically outpaced supply. Payce is chasing the hospitality sector at a time when Muscat's restaurant and tourism scene is growing fast. CardO addresses a genuine pain point: online card fraud, which the Central Bank of Oman has flagged as a rising concern. Cxingularity uses AI to automate credit decisions, a tool with obvious value for SME lending in a country where MTCIT has been actively pushing to strengthen the local tech sector through programmes like Sas for Excellence.

🛡️ Spotlight: Aman and the RIA Connection

Among the six, Aman stands out for an additional reason. The fraud monitoring platform was developed under the Research and Innovation Authority's (RIA) Upgrade Programme, signalling a growing pipeline between Oman's academic and research institutions and its financial sector. If Aman succeeds commercially, it becomes a proof point for the broader RIA-to-market pipeline that Oman's policymakers have been trying to build for years.

Automated fraud monitoring is also well-timed. As Oman pushes toward a cashless economy following the Central Bank of Oman's decision to make all digital transfers free, the volume of digital transactions will only increase, and with it, the attack surface for fraud.

💰 Funding: $1.8 Million and Three Closed Deals

Three of the six startups secured investment during the programme, and the combined total across all participating companies reached up to USD 1.8 million, as reported by Times of Oman. NBO did not disclose which three startups closed deals or the individual amounts, but the headline figure matters: in Oman's early-stage ecosystem, a $1.8 million cohort outcome signals that investors are paying attention to homegrown fintech.

The programme also delivered softer outcomes: product validation, pilot testing with real customers, and strategic partnerships with established financial institutions. These pre-commercial milestones often determine whether a startup survives its first two years, and NBO's network gave cohort members a credibility boost that money alone cannot buy.

🏦 Building an Ecosystem, One Cohort at a Time

NBO launched its Fintech Accelerator in 2025 with a first cohort of five startups. Adding six more in 2026 brings the total to 11 graduates, a small but meaningful foundation. For context, Oman's fintech sector has historically lagged behind the UAE and Bahrain, which both have more mature regulatory sandboxes and deeper venture capital ecosystems.

NBO's model is different from a pure VC play. As a commercial bank, NBO has a vested interest in the startups it backs: better fraud tools, smoother payments, and smarter credit decisioning all reduce NBO's own operating costs while growing the customer base. It is a mutually reinforcing dynamic that aligns bank incentives with startup success.

The Central Bank of Oman's own fintech accelerator and regulatory sandbox provide additional infrastructure. When a startup graduates from NBO's programme, it enters a market with a functioning sandbox, a digitally active consumer base thanks to CBO's cashless push, and a government that has publicly committed to growing fintech as part of the national digital economy roadmap.

🇴🇲 Why This Matters for Oman

Oman's Vision 2040 framework explicitly targets diversification away from oil, with the digital economy earmarked as one of the key engines of that shift. Fintech sits at the intersection of finance and technology: it creates jobs that require skills Omani universities are increasingly producing, it generates fee income that stays in the local economy, and it improves financial inclusion for citizens who may not have used formal banking services.

The NBO Demo Day is not a single flashy event. It is a data point in a longer trend. Oman has run government-backed AI competitions, launched sovereign cloud infrastructure, opened a dedicated AI Special Zone, and funded local tech firms. As noted in the Oman Vision 2040 review of completed infrastructure projects this year, the country is consistently moving from planning to execution.

Fintech may be less visible than a data centre or an AI zone, but in many ways it is more broadly felt. When a small restaurant owner in Muscat uses Payce to split bills, or when a young Omani professional uses Bayzati to manage savings, the digital economy stops being an abstraction and becomes a daily reality.

NBO's commitment to a third cohort has not been announced yet, but with 11 graduates and USD 1.8 million in cohort-two investment, the model has earned its next iteration.