- Tamara, a Saudi Arabian fintech company backed by Goldman Sachs, recently reached a unicorn valuation, making it Saudi Arabia’s first indigenous fintech unicorn.
- The firm recently raised $340 million in a Series C equity funding round led by Sanabil Investments and SNB Capital.
- Operating in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait, Tamara is one of the Middle East’s largest buy now, pay later startups, catering to over 10 million users and collaborating with over 30,000 merchants.
- Following this achievement, the company has hinted at potentially going public in the coming years.
Tamara, a fintech company in Saudi Arabia backed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has reached unicorn status, being valued at over $1 billion in its latest funding round. This milestone marks Tamara as the first homegrown fintech unicorn in Saudi Arabia.
Recently, the firm was successful in raising $340 million in a Series C equity funding round. This round was spearheaded by Sanabil Investments, which is fully owned by the Public Investment Fund, and SNB Capital, a division of the kingdom’s largest bank. In November 2023, Tamara had a debt raise backed by Goldman Sachs.
Operating in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, Tamara is among the biggest buy now, pay later startups in the Middle East. It collaborates with more than 30,000 merchants to serve a customer base exceeding 10 million users. Given its recent financial success, the company has announced that it’s contemplating an initial public offering (IPO) over the next few years.
The Buy Now, Pay Later sector is currently showing impressive growth in Saudi Arabia. As per the 2022 report by SAMA Fintech, the customer base for Buy Now, Pay Later services grew from 76,000 in 2020, to 3 million in 2021, and then to 10 million in 2022. Based on these growth rates, it is projected that digital payment volumes will increase by 20% CAGR until 2025, reaching 13 billion deals with a total value of $170 billion.
