Saudi fintech Hala has raised $157 million in a Series B funding round to further expand its suite of banking services targeting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and freelancers. The investment was co-led by TPG and Sanabil Investments, a division of the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund.
QED Investors and Raed Ventures also participated in the round, alongside Middle East Venture Partners, Isometry Capital, Arzan VC, BNVT Capital, Kaltaire Investments, Endeavor Catalyst, Nour Nouf Ventures, Khwarizmi Ventures, Wamda Capital, and Impact 46, which previously led Hala’s $6.5 million Series A in March 2021.
This latest capital injection values Hala at around $900 million, according to Bloomberg, while the fintech describes the raise as “one of the largest fintech Series B funding rounds in the Middle East”.
The company says the new funds will be used to “strengthen Hala’s position in the Saudi market and offer more embedded financial services, lending products catered to support the growth of MSMEs and freelancers, as well as to expand Hala’s presence regionally”.
Founded by group CEO Maher Loubieh and chairman Esam Alnahdi in 2017, Hala’s embedded financial services offering currently includes business bank accounts, card issuance, payment and transfer services, and point-of-sale (POS) solutions for merchants. The company currently serves over 142,000 businesses and processes more than $8 billion transactions annually.
The fintech, based in Riyadh, previously enhanced its presence in the neighbouring UAE market by acquiring payments start-up Paymennt.com in 2023, and bolstered its technical expertise by appointing former Revolut exec Saleem Arshad as CTO that same year.
Source: https://www.fintechfutures.com/
