Tarabut Raises US$50M From Saudi Banks to Expand SME Lending
The Bahrain-based open banking firm will spend the SAR 187 million round on verification, credit decisions and embedded financing, subject to regulatory approval.
Nadia Mansour Nadia Mansour covers fintech across the UAE and MENA for Anecdoted -- digital banking, payments licences and the startups building around them. nadia@anecdoted.com
Tarabut has raised US$50 million, equal to SAR 187 million, from Saudi banks and family business groups. The Bahrain-based open banking company will direct the money toward verification, credit decisions and financing.
The backers are largely domestic. Riyad Bank joined the round, as did GIB Saudi Arabia, X-Tech Fund, which is run by SAB Invest, Zamil Group and Kanoo Ventures. Kanoo Ventures forms part of the Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo Group. Other regional investors also took part.
A platform spanning three markets
Tarabut operates in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. Its interfaces have carried more than 5 billion API calls, the connections that let banks, distributors and consumers exchange data and instructions.
The financing Tarabut enables is built directly into a partner bank's own app, so a business applying for credit stays inside the channel it already uses.
Where the money goes
- Verification of borrowers and businesses
- Credit decisions informed by live account data
- Financing for small and medium businesses
Lenders have long relied on paperwork rather than real-time cash flow. That leaves approved firms waiting weeks for funds to arrive. Combining documents with live cash-flow data can cut the wait, and the same data helps lenders assess consumers who are difficult to score through ordinary credit checks.
Abdulla Almoayed, Tarabut's Founder and CEO, said the company built a regulated platform across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, and that the new financing will let it go deeper in the Saudi market.
Abdulrahman Alzamil, President of Zamil Investments, said his firm's participation reflects confidence in Tarabut's capabilities, adding that the company is committed to deepening its presence in Saudi Arabia.
Why Saudi banks are buying in
The round puts Saudi institutions on the cap table of infrastructure they could otherwise try to build themselves. Buying into a shared layer is quicker, and it spreads the cost of connecting to account data across several lenders at once. Tarabut ties its work to the financial inclusion aims set out under Saudi Vision 2030, which gives the banks a policy rationale as well as a commercial one.
The deal is not final. It still requires regulatory approval, including clearance from the Saudi Central Bank. Tarabut plans to share the next phase of its platform in the coming months.
Featured image edited by Fintech News UAE, based on an image by toia via Magnific.
