How GCC Nexus built Barq's entire India technology organization — 100+ engineers, from zero.
About Barq
Barq is one of Saudi Arabia's most prominent digital financial services applications — backed by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and led by Ahmed Alenazi, former CEO of STC Pay. The platform is built to bring payments, banking, cards, and international remittances into a single consumer app. Barq allows users to transfer money to 200+ countries, use Visa cards (physical and virtual) with zero annual fees and zero international transaction fees, access 25 airport lounges globally, and earn cashback through gamified rewards. Monthly transaction limits reach SAR 100,000. The platform also integrates Alipay+ QR payments across 220+ markets — making it one of the most globally connected fintech apps to come out of the region.
The Challenge
Barq was starting from zero. They had a product vision — a best-in-class B2C fintech app for Saudi consumers — and regulatory backing from SAMA. What they needed was an entire technology organization, built fast. Hiring engineers locally in Saudi Arabia at the scale and quality they needed would have taken years and cost far more. The product timeline didn't allow for that. They needed a full engineering team — backend, mobile, data, DevOps — operational and shipping within months.
India had already built exactly what Barq was trying to build. Engineers from Paytm, Cashfree, Jar, and Razorpay had already designed and shipped international remittance systems, Visa card integrations, payment rails, and high-scale consumer fintech apps. They didn't need to learn — they had domain-specific experience that directly mapped to Barq's product. Hiring these engineers meant Barq wasn't starting from scratch — they were starting from experience.
What We Built
GCC Nexus built Barq's India development center in Bangalore end-to-end. We sourced engineers exclusively from India's top consumer fintech companies — Paytm, Cashfree, Jar, Razorpay — engineers who had already built the systems Barq needed to ship. The first 10 engineers were placed and operational in under 8 weeks. We handled everything: EOR setup under our India entity, office in Bangalore, laptops and equipment, payroll and compliance, onboarding and culture alignment. Barq's leadership focused on product and business — we took care of the entire India operation.
Team Composition
Where We Sourced From
Engineers sourced from India's top product and technology companies:
Outcomes
- First 10 engineers placed and operational in under 8 weeks
- 100+ engineers, product managers, and data analysts now in Bangalore
- Entire product and technology organization built from India
- Engineers sourced from Paytm, Cashfree, Jar, Razorpay — domain-experienced from day one
- Barq shipped a full B2C fintech app — payments, cards, remittances — powered entirely by the India team
- Zero Saudi legal setup required at launch — GCC Nexus EOR handled all compliance
"We needed to build an entire technology organization, not just hire a few engineers. GCC Nexus understood that. They gave us a team that had already built fintech systems at scale — so we didn't spend months learning, we spent months shipping."
