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Saudi Arabia

Op-ed

+4

Money 20/20 Field Notes: mega-rounds, growing faultlines, and the increasing importance of taste

Sep 16, 2026

•

9 min read

Money 20/20 Field Notes: mega-rounds, growing faultlines, and the increasing importance of taste

Mega-rounds, Saudi-UAE faultlines, an alarming amount of AI-generated slop and why Paul Graham’s 2002 essay on taste feels more and more relevant; some semi-unfiltered observations from three days at Money20/20 in Riyadh.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+5

Tabby raises $233M Series F at $6.5B valuation as it pushes beyond BNPL

Sep 14, 2026

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2 min read

Tabby raises $233M Series F at $6.5B valuation as it pushes beyond BNPL

The round comes as new Saudi lending licences and a UAE wallet licence expand it into longer-term credit, SME finance and everyday money management.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+4

Tarabut secures $50M from Saudi banks and business groups as it deepens Kingdom focus

Sep 14, 2026

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2 min read

Tarabut secures $50M from Saudi banks and business groups as it deepens Kingdom focus

Riyad Bank, SAB Invest’s X-Tech Fund and GIB Saudi Arabia are among the backers, three years after Tarabut’s $32 million Series A was itself raised to expand in Saudi.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

SaaS

+4

Saudi used-car platform Carly takes Pinnacle investment in primary-secondary deal

Sep 10, 2026

•

1 min read

Saudi used-car platform Carly takes Pinnacle investment in primary-secondary deal

The undisclosed transaction is the first investment from Pinnacle’s new growth and secondaries fund, launched last month to back later-stage Saudi tech companies while providing liquidity to existing shareholders.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Saudi Arabia

+3

Gaia raises $1.5M led by SEEDRA to build sovereign AI layer for Saudi enterprises

Sep 8, 2026

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1 min read

Gaia raises $1.5M led by SEEDRA to build sovereign AI layer for Saudi enterprises

The Riyadh startup is building a permission-aware search, assistant and AI agent layer across companies’ internal systems, with data kept inside Saudi or deployed on-premise.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+5

Sav raises $3.5M pre-Series A led by Phoenix Venture Partners for Saudi expansion

Sep 7, 2026

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2 min read

Sav raises $3.5M pre-Series A led by Phoenix Venture Partners for Saudi expansion

The UAE consumer fintech has broadened from a savings app into a regulated personal-finance platform spanning cards, investments and account aggregation, taking total funding to about $6 million.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Public Markets

+3

HUMAIN starts IPO preparations 16 months after launch, with revenues still undisclosed

Sep 7, 2026

•

3 min read

HUMAIN starts IPO preparations 16 months after launch, with revenues still undisclosed

The Saudi AI company says its compute is selling before it is built, but an eventual public-market pitch will need to show who is paying for it and how much demand comes from outside the Kingdom’s state-backed ecosystem.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+3

PayTabs agrees $100M-plus deal for Amazon Payment Services’ MENA operations

Sep 7, 2026

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2 min read

PayTabs agrees $100M-plus deal for Amazon Payment Services’ MENA operations

The Saudi payments company will take over a business that began as PayFort before joining Amazon through its 2017 acquisition of Souq, creating a combined platform expected to process more than SAR 150 billion annually.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Saudi Arabia

+2

The AI announcements from LEAP 2026 worth knowing

Sep 4, 2026

•

2 min read

The AI announcements from LEAP 2026 worth knowing

LEAP closed in Riyadh yesterday after four days dominated by Saudi Arabia’s AI buildout, with HUMAIN responsible for a fairly extraordinary share of the announcements.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Food Delivery

+2

Keeta records first profitable month in Saudi Arabia after 22 months as delivery price war bites

Sep 4, 2026

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6 min read

Keeta records first profitable month in Saudi Arabia after 22 months as delivery price war bites

Keeta took 29 months to reach the same milestone in Hong Kong, where it launched in May 2023.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Saudi Arabia

+3

HUMAIN says planned $10B global VC fund could be larger, unveils separate Saudi-focused vehicle

Sep 4, 2026

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2 min read

HUMAIN says planned $10B global VC fund could be larger, unveils separate Saudi-focused vehicle

The Saudi AI company will create HUMAIN Limitless, a separate initiative specifically focused on investing in and supporting AI companies within Saudi Arabia.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+4

Sirdab raises $10M Series A from Elm and BECO to expand Saudi logistics platform across GCC

Sep 3, 2026

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1 min read

Sirdab raises $10M Series A from Elm and BECO to expand Saudi logistics platform across GCC

The profitable Saudi logistics startup has grown revenue 20x since Y Combinator and now connects more than 850 businesses to a network of 120+ warehouses and 60+ transport providers.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+4

ZenHR raises $6M bridge round led by Impact46 to expand AI products and EWA

Sep 3, 2026

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2 min read

ZenHR raises $6M bridge round led by Impact46 to expand AI products and EWA

The Saudi HR software company is expanding its AI products and earned wage access offering across 11 markets in MENA, four years after raising a $10 million growth round.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+3

FlyAkeed raises $25.2M across Sanabil-led equity round and Artal sukuk

Sep 3, 2026

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1 min read

FlyAkeed raises $25.2M across Sanabil-led equity round and Artal sukuk

The Saudi corporate travel platform is adding a deferred-payment layer to its software, with the new financing split between equity and Shariah-compliant debt.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+3

Saudi SME lending startup Abwab.ai raises $4M led by Speedinvest and MEVP

Sep 3, 2026

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2 min read

Saudi SME lending startup Abwab.ai raises $4M led by Speedinvest and MEVP

The startup says its technology is used by more than 13 financial institutions and has processed over SAR 1 billion in SME loans.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Foodtech

+6

COFE closes $43M pre-IPO round at $178M valuation, targets Saudi listing by 2029

Sep 2, 2026

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2 min read

COFE closes $43M pre-IPO round at $178M valuation, targets Saudi listing by 2029

Wa’ed Ventures returns three years after leading its $15m Series B, as the Kuwait-born coffee-ordering app remakes itself into enterprise procurement and commerce software.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+4

Adam Neumann’s Flow enters UAE with DIFC licence, targets first openings in early 2027

Sep 2, 2026

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2 min read

Adam Neumann’s Flow enters UAE with DIFC licence, targets first openings in early 2027

a16z-backed residential operator plans communities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi as its portfolio grows to 8,500 homes under management or development.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Saudi Arabia

+4

HUMAIN invests in Arabic.AI and Tarjama to expand Saudi enterprise AI offering

Sep 1, 2026

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1 min read

HUMAIN invests in Arabic.AI and Tarjama to expand Saudi enterprise AI offering

Undisclosed investment brings Nour Al Hassan’s Arabic language technology business into the PIF-backed AI group’s growing application stack.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Results

+5

Talabat generated 94% of Delivery Hero’s MENA profit as Saudi losses narrowed

Aug 28, 2026

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5 min read

Talabat generated 94% of Delivery Hero’s MENA profit as Saudi losses narrowed

Regional GMV rose 11.6% even as profit slipped, with Saudi Arabia appearing to move back towards breakeven ahead of Uber’s €13B takeover of the Berlin group.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Saudi Arabia

+4

Saudi's Khwarizmi Ventures partially exits Bosta at around 3x

Aug 21, 2026

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1 min read

Saudi's Khwarizmi Ventures partially exits Bosta at around 3x

The Saudi venture firm, which first backed Bosta at Series A and invested in two subsequent rounds, has partially sold its stake in the Egyptian logistics company at a net multiple of about 3x.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Saudi Arabia

+2

Pinnacle Capital launches fund combining Saudi growth rounds and secondaries

Aug 21, 2026

•

1 min read

Pinnacle Capital launches fund combining Saudi growth rounds and secondaries

The CMA-licensed Riyadh firm, established in 2021 and affiliated with the Watar Partners network, will invest through primary rounds and secondary transactions.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Saudi Arabia

+3

Saudi edtech AILA raises $3M pre-Series A led by Rua Growth Fund

Aug 19, 2026

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1 min read

Saudi edtech AILA raises $3M pre-Series A led by Rua Growth Fund

Jordanian edtech Jo Academy also joins the cap table as a strategic investor alongside 500 Global, Bunat Ventures and Fikr Ventures, backing a platform whose AILA Tests product runs personalised exam preparation in Saudi schools.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+2

Tamara’s Saudi Q2 revenue more than doubles as new lending book closes in on BNPL

Aug 11, 2026

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3 min read

Tamara’s Saudi Q2 revenue more than doubles as new lending book closes in on BNPL

Q2 revenue more than doubled to SAR 707 million as consumer-financing receivables reached SAR 3.14 billion, just behind the SAR 3.36 billion held in pay-in-instalments.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+2

Tabby's Saudi unit Q2 profit falls 54% as revenue grows 21% year on year

Aug 10, 2026

•

3 min read

Tabby's Saudi unit Q2 profit falls 54% as revenue grows 21% year on year

The Riyadh-headquartered BNPL lender's repayments outpaced new lending by roughly SAR 360 million between April and June, as its new SAMA licence opens a push into longer-term consumer and SME lending.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+3

Saudi's Rime raises $2M+ seed to run AI agents on-site for retail chains

Aug 4, 2026

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1 min read

Saudi's Rime raises $2M+ seed to run AI agents on-site for retail chains

Seedra Ventures led again after backing the pre-Seed, in a round joined by Athlah Investment and Unity Invest Partners, behind a platform that runs decisions on-site through edge computing rather than sending footage to remote data centres.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane
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