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Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is investing in fintech start-up Lendo, which helps SMEs in the kingdom secure financing.
The sovereign wealth fund’s wholly owned company Sanabil Investments led a funding round that raised SAR105 million ($28 million) for Lendo, according to a statement. The Series B funding round also saw participation from Shorooq Partners, AB Ventures and other investors.
The company, which also confirmed plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO), said it will use the fresh capital to enter new markets and support its customer base in Saudi Arabia, which has grown three times year-on-year.
“With this funding round, we are going to expand into new markets, support new and current customers and launch new Shariah-compliant products,” said Osama Alraee, CEO and Co-founder of Lendo.
Alraee confirmed the company intends to launch an IPO within the “next few years”.
The latest investment round brings the company’s total funding to SAR132 million. The company previously raised SAR27 million in a Series A funding round in 2021 led by Derayah Ventures.
The fintech start-up, which seeks to bridge the financing gap for SMEs, helps pre-finance outstanding invoices for businesses in Saudi Arabia.
It has so far processed more than 2,500 financing transactions since its inception in December 2019, providing more than SAR1 billion in financing to SMEs and generating SAR140 million in returns for investors.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
