- Saudi Arabian fintech company Tamara has achieved a valuation of $1 billion after raising $340 million in a Series C funding round, becoming the first Saudi fintech unicorn startup.
- The funding round was led by SNB Capital and Sanabil Investments, with contributions from Shorooq Partners, Pinnacle Capital, Impulse and other investors.
- Since its inception in 2020, Tamara has raised a total of $500 million in equity funding and over $400 million in debt financing.
- Operating in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Kuwait, Tamara has more than 10 million users and over 30,000 partner merchants.
Tamara, the leading fintech platform in Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, has raised $340 million in a Series C funding round, taking its valuation to $1 billion and making it the first Saudi fintech unicorn startup. SNB Capital, a prominent regional financial institution, and Sanabil Investments, a company wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), co-led the funding round. Other participants in the round included Shorooq Partners, Pinnacle Capital, Impulse and several other investors.
This fundraising positions Tamara as one of the largest investments in a fintech company in the region. The funding follows last month’s additional debt financing that Tamara secured to upsize its warehouse facility to up to $400 million. This effort was led by Goldman Sachs and Shorooq Partners. Since its inception in late 2020, Tamara has raised a total of $500 million in equity funding and over $400 million in debt financing.
Tamara’s services are available in Saudi Arabia, where the company is headquartered, along with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait. The fintech firm boasts over 10 million users and more than 30,000 partner merchants. Tamara has reported a sixfold annual run rate revenue growth in less than two years. The company was established by three Saudi co-founders, Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah, and Abdulmohsen Al Babtain.
Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Co-founder, and CEO of Tamara, said their achievement proves the growth potential of the fintech sector in Saudi Arabia and the wider region. Alsukhan added that local entrepreneurs and supportive local ecosystems and market regulators facilitated Tamara’s swift growth.
Despite the global macroeconomic challenges, Saudi Arabia and the GCC are experiencing rapid and unprecedented growth. Tamara’s vision aligns with this growth, seeing significant future opportunities as the fintech sector booms across the region. The buy now, pay later (BNPL) market is growing rapidly in Saudi Arabia, with the number of customers registered with a service increasing from 76 thousand in 2020 to 10 million in 2022, according to the SAMA Fintech 2022 report.
