Saudi autotech Autobia raises $12 million Series A led by Artal Capital
The auto parts marketplace and embedded finance platform will use the round to expand across Saudi Arabia and scale inventory financing.
Autobia, a Saudi B2B technology company built around the auto parts trade, has raised $12 million in a Series A round — SAR 45 million — led by Artal Capital. Aljazira Capital and Wa'ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco, took part in the round.
The company was co-founded in 2021 by Emad Daghreri and Ahmed Alawfi. It runs a digital marketplace that connects auto parts retailers and wholesalers with verified suppliers, and folds procurement, fulfilment, logistics and inventory financing into a single system. Its customers are the traditional parts traders that have long bought and sold through informal channels.
A marketplace with finance built in
Buyers on the platform can take inventory on flexible payment terms and settle their own customers' payments through licensed payment and buy now, pay later providers. Sourcing on one side and working capital on the other is the combination the company treats as its core product, rather than a standalone procurement tool.
"Our ambition goes beyond digitising auto parts procurement. We are building a technology platform infrastructure that gives traditional auto parts businesses the intelligence, efficiency, and tools they need to compete and grow," said Daghreri, the co-founder and chief executive.
Alawfi, co-founder and chief operating officer, said widening access to embedded financial services is central to that plan, giving customers a way to manage working-capital constraints and grow with more flexibility. He said the company's backers share its long-term view of the sector.
Where the money goes
The Series A is earmarked for four things: extending Autobia's presence across Saudi Arabia, building out its fulfilment and logistics infrastructure, developing its proprietary dynamic pricing and technology, and scaling its inventory-on-terms offering.
Wassim Moukahhal, head of alternative investments at Artal Capital, described the auto parts market Autobia targets as large and underserved, and said the company's model combines technology, operational execution and embedded financial services. Artal aims to back the founders' vision and the platform's potential to become part of the automotive after-sales infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the wider region, he said, adding that the firm expects to support the company through its next phase of growth.
This is not Autobia's first outside capital. In 2023 it closed a $2.5 million seed round led by Sadu Capital, with support from Wa'ed Ventures by Aramco, Raz Holding, Techstars and a group of angel investors.
The company places its expansion alongside the wider build-out of Saudi Arabia's technology, logistics, automotive and financial services sectors under Vision 2030. By digitising procurement and transactions, tightening supply chain efficiency and widening access to working capital, Autobia's stated aim is to sit behind every spare part sold and every vehicle serviced in the region.
