Saudi Arabia’s fintech industry experienced a significant transformation last year, in line with the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP). With a target to reach 525 fintech companies by 2030, last year saw remarkable progress, with the Kingdom now hosting 207 fintech companies, marking a substantial 41% increase from the previous year.
According to FinArabia’s FinTech Funding Report, in 2023, there was an 18% uptick in deals compared to the previous year, with 28 recorded deals. Notably, over 70% of these deals occurred at the pre-seed and seed stages, indicating a trend towards early-stage investments with smaller ticket sizes.
Here are the top 10 fintech funding rounds in Saudi Arabia in 2023
Company: Tamara
Funding round: Series C
Funds raised: $340 million
Funding round led by SNB Capital, Sanabil Investments, Shorooq Partners, Pinnacle Capital Group, Impulse, Endeavour Catalyst, Coatue, Checkout.com
With this transaction, Tamara has raised $500 million in equity funding and well above $400 million in debt financing since its inception in late 2020. The company plans to deploy funds on new products and services, going beyond BNPL and targeting opportunities in shopping, payments and banking services in Saudi Arabia and across the GCC.
Tamara operates in KSA, where it is headquartered, UAE and Kuwait and has over 10 million users, over 30,000 partner merchants and reported six times annual run rate revenue growth in less than two years. The company was established in late 2020 and founded by three Saudi co-founders, Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Al Babtain. It was also one of the first companies to be permitted to provide BNPL services from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).
Company: Tabby
Funding round: Series D
Funds raised: $250 million
Funding round led by Arbor Ventures, STV, Wellington Management, Mubadala Investment Capital, Bluepool Capital, PayPal Ventures
Tabby’s Series D round valued the company at over $1.5 billion, making it the region’s first fintech unicorn ahead of its planned IPO in Saudi Arabia.
The financing fortified Tabby’s balance sheet to serve the accelerating demand for its flagship buy now, pay later offering, which now manages over $6 billion in annualised transaction volume. According to the company, the funds raised will continue shaping Tabby’s finance and shopping products for consumers and retailers.
Company: Tabby
Funding round: Series C
Funds raised: $58 million
Funding round led by Endeavour Catalyst, STV, Sequoia Capital India, Arbor Ventures, PayPal Ventures, Mubadala Investment Capital
MENA’s leading shopping and financial services apps, Tabby’s Series C round, valued the company at $660 million. The company said that the funds raised will be used to expand Tabby’s product line into next-gen consumer financial services and support the company’s growing operations. This round makes Tabby the first in the GCC to receive funding from PayPal Ventures.
The company works with over 10,000 brands, including nine of MENA’s ten largest retail groups, and more recently launched with Noon, the region’s largest e-commerce marketplace. Last year, Tabby crossed 3 million active shoppers, expanded its operations to Egypt and grew 5x in revenue over the previous year.
Company: Lendo
Funding round: Series B
Funds raised: $28 million
Funding round led by Sanabil Investments, Shorooq Partners, A3Ventures
Lendo is a Shariah-compliant debt crowdfunding marketplace that helps pre-finance outstanding invoices for businesses in Saudi Arabia. The platform is a community of creditworthy borrowers and investors looking for alternative investments.
Lendo said it would use the funds to support its fast-growing customer base in Saudi Arabia, which has grown 3x year-on-year, introduce more innovative financing products, and accelerate market expansion plans.
Lendo previously raised a $7.2 million Series A funding round in 2021 led by Derayah Ventures with participation from Seedra Ventures and other investors, bringing the fintech’s total funding to $35.2 million.
Company: Ajras
Funding round: Seed
Funds raised: $28 million
Funding round led by Madarek International
Ajras was founded in 2022 by Muath Aljubailan, Abdullah Al Qarni, Ahmed Al Tamimi, Suleiman Aljarbou, and Suhail Al Tamimi.
The proptech firm offers flexible payment solutions for landlords and tenants. It primarily caters to retail businesses, enabling them to pay their annual rent in instalments and better manage their cash flow.
The funds will be used to expand Ajras to enhance focus on its core product — streamlining the payment process for long-term leases of commercial properties.
Company: Rewaa
Funding round: Series A
Funds raised: $27 million
Funding round led by Wa’ed Ventures by Aramco, STC, Vision Ventures, Derayah Ventures, Khwarizmi Ventures, Graphene Ventures, Sadu Capital, RZM Investment, Derayah Ventures Abdulrahman Sulaiman Al Rajhi & Sons Investment Company
Rewaa is a full-stack inventory management platform for the retail industry. According to the founders, the company has processed over $1.8 billion in transaction value, positioning it as one of Saudi’s fastest-growing SaaS companies in the MENA region. The company specialises in omnichannel inventory management software.
Since its inception, Rewaa has served over 7,000 retailers in the Kingdom and abroad, creating over 250 local jobs. The company’s innovation and success led to its recognition as one of the 35 tech companies in the Saudi Unicorns Program. The program was announced during LEAP, the region’s largest technology conference, as a joint initiative by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), the National Technology Development Program (NTDP), and the Misk Foundation.
Company: Tameed
Funding round: Series A
Funds raised: $15 million
Funding round led by Alromaih Investments
Tameed Digital Lending Platform offers Shariah-compliant government purchase order financing for SMEs in Saudi Arabia. The company plans to utilise the proceeds from the Series A funding round to accelerate its growth and meet the increasing demand for its digital lending products.
Tameed offered SMEs funding exceeding SR400 million, served investors and borrowers through a mobile app with 50K downloads, and achieved a growth rate exceeding 400%.
Company: NearPay
Funds round: Series A
Funds raised: $14 million
Funding round led by Sanabil Investments, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, Arzan Venture Capital, STC
Nearpay is a Saudi fintech startup specialising in payments infrastructure as a service.
Founded in 2020 by Mohamed Aleban and Hamza AlFarhan, Nearpay offers businesses a payment infrastructure focusing on POS and SoftPOS technology. The company has developed its infrastructure from the ground up. This innovative solution simplifies accepting payments on any device, including phones, tablets, kiosks, and handheld devices.
According to a statement, the $14 million funding round will support the company’s global expansion plans and advancing technological capabilities.
Nearpay’s SoftPOS transforms every device with NFC (near-field communication) into a secure payment terminal, eliminating the need for extra hardware. This streamlines payments and slashes business costs, presenting an irresistible solution across diverse industries.
Company: Hakbah
Funding round: Series A
Funds raised: $5.1 million
Funding round led by Global Ventures, Aditum, M Capital, Bunat Ventures, VentureSouq
Hakbah is a Saudi-based fintech savings platform. It operates in KSA’s $216 billion savings market. The company has recorded an 18x increase in total savings under management and a 4x increase in revenue in 2023 and struck several blue-chip partnerships with Flynas.
“Proceeds from the Series A funding round will be used for further product development, with a strong focus on machine learning and further developing the company’s integrable savings engine,” the company said in a statement. “Capital will be ring-fenced to attract and nurture the region’s best talent and strengthen Hakbah’s position as the region’s leading savings platform.”
The company anticipates entering two regional markets shortly via a partnership or a strategic alliance.
Company: Wosul
Funding round: Seed
Funds raised: $3.2 million
Funding round led by Khalah, Angel Investors
Wosul, specialising in cloud systems and digital payments, aims to expand its operations in Saudi Arabia, specifically retail.
Wosul is the first Saudi platform for the digital transformation of the retail sector to achieve the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goals in digital transformation and economic growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
