Astra Tech

Astra Tech is an Abu Dhabi headquartered technology holding group founded in 2022 by Abdallah Abu Sheikh, a Jordanian-born serial entrepreneur previously featured on Forbes 30 Under 30 and also the co-founder of home services app Rizek and EV startup Barq, with a mission to build the first Ultra App in the Middle East by consolidating communication, fintech, e-commerce, and on-demand services into a single AI-native platform. The group's flagship product is Botim, the UAE's most widely used calling and communication app with eight out of ten UAE smartphone users on the platform, which Astra Tech acquired and transformed from a pure VoIP app into a fintech-first super app offering free voice and video calls, international money transfers, digital wallets, bill payments, UAE visa services, mobile recharges, shopping, and consumer lending through its subsidiaries Botim Money and Botim Finance. Astra Tech has grown rapidly through strategic acquisitions, acquiring Rizek for on-demand home and lifestyle services, PayBy for its Central Bank of UAE licensed stored value and payment infrastructure, Y Finance for expansion into the Philippines market, and building Quantix, its consumer lending subsidiary that in July 2024 became the first fintech in the UAE to receive a full Finance Company License from the UAE Central Bank. The company is part of the G42 group of companies, the Abu Dhabi based AI and cloud technology conglomerate, and has established landmark partnerships including with Mastercard for card issuance, Ant Group and Alipay+ for cross-border digital payments, Tencent for remittances to WeChat Wallet users in China, Apple Pay integration, and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank for Sharia-compliant financial services. As of 2025 Botim serves over 170 million users across 158 countries, has been recognized as one of the UAE Minister of State's Future 100 Companies, and the group generates revenue through subscriptions, lending, shopping commissions, and advertising.