Saudi Arabia’s fintech scene has accelerated rapidly on the back of Vision 2030, forward‑leaning SAMA regulation, and one of the Middle East’s highest smartphone‑penetration rates. Below are 11 standout companies that are reshaping how Saudis pay, borrow, and build businesses, complete with recent milestones that prove their traction.
What they do: STC Pay is the Kingdom’s largest digital wallet, letting users send and receive money, pay bills, and shop online or in‑store straight from a mobile app.
Market disruption:
- Kick‑started the Saudi e‑wallet boom and now serves millions of retail users alongside 300k+ merchants.
- Handles domestic transfers and low‑cost remittances, reducing reliance on cash exchange houses.
- Became the country’s first fintech unicorn when Western Union bought a 15 % stake at a US $1.3 billion valuation (fintechfutures.com).
- Recently added multi‑currency prepaid cards and QR merchant acceptance, deepening its super‑app ambitions.
What they do: Tamara offers Buy Now, Pay Later at checkout, letting shoppers split purchases into interest‑free instalments online and in store.
Market disruption:
- Normalised BNPL in mainstream Saudi retail, lifting conversion rates for hundreds of brands.
- Has raised more than US $500 million in equity and $400 million in debt, propelling it to a US $1 billion+ valuation (tamara.co).
- Expanded into the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar, positioning itself as a GCC‑wide BNPL leader.
What they do: Tabby provides BNPL and pay‑in‑four options across e‑commerce and physical retail, plus a consumer shopping app.
Market disruption:
- Helped make instalment purchasing a standard feature of Saudi e‑commerce, boosting average order values.
- Secured a full SAMA licence—one of the first BNPLs to do so—and achieved unicorn status with a US $3.3 billion valuation following its 2025 Series E (arabnews.com).
What they do: Lean delivers open‑banking APIs that let fintechs pull bank data and initiate account‑to‑account payments in real time.
Market disruption:
- First technical service provider approved under SAMA’s open‑banking sandbox, setting the rails for data‑driven products (leantech.me).
- Powers integrations for dozens of banks and fintechs, enabling personalised PFM apps, instant lending, and friction‑free payments.
What they do: Lendo is a debt‑crowdfunding platform that allows SMEs to sell invoices or obtain working‑capital financing directly from retail and institutional investors.
Market disruption:
- Bridges the SME credit gap by converting unpaid invoices into same‑week liquidity.
- Fully licensed by SAMA to conduct debt crowdfunding (lendo.sa).
- Has channelled hundreds of millions of riyals to Saudi SMEs and recently added sector‑specific financing for construction and healthcare.
What they do: Hala provides an all‑in‑one digital business account for SMEs, bundling smart POS devices, invoicing, expense cards, and short‑term loans.
Market disruption:
- Gives micro‑merchants the banking, payments, and analytics tools previously available only to larger corporates.
- Holds both EMI and crowdfunding licenses from SAMA (hala.com, arabnews.com), underscoring strong regulatory backing.
- Processes more than US $150 million GMV monthly via its POS estate (hala.com) and plans to launch AI‑driven cash‑flow lending in 2025.
What they do: The digital arm of Riyad Bank offers instant personal loans, SME financing, and fully remote onboarding powered by alternative‑data risk models.
Market disruption:
- Sets a new bar for loan turnaround, approving personal loans in minutes via mobile.
- Opened the Saudi banking industry’s first dedicated AI Centre, automating credit scoring and fraud detection (arabnews.com).
- Experimented with a metaverse branch and AI chat advisors, keeping its 70‑year‑old brand relevant to a mobile‑native audience (riyadbank.com).
What they do: Raqamyah is a peer‑to‑peer lending marketplace matching individual and institutional investors with SMEs seeking flexible funding.
Market disruption:
- Democratises SME finance, giving businesses faster, collateral‑light loans and investors a new fixed‑income asset.
- One of the first P2P lenders to receive a SAMA licence and has since funded thousands of Saudi SMEs (raqamyah.com).
What they do: Tweeq is a mobile‑first e‑money wallet and neobank targeting freelancers, students, and other underbanked segments with fee‑light accounts and budgeting tools.
Market disruption:
- Secured a coveted SAMA e‑money licence before launch—a strong regulatory vote of confidence (fintechfutures.com).
- Rapidly expanded its user base with gamified budgeting and cashback rewards and is beta‑testing cross‑border transfers for gig‑economy workers.
What they do: Foodics offers a cloud POS and management platform for restaurants and retailers, with embedded payments, inventory, and working‑capital loans.
Market disruption:
- Digitised F&B operations, generating rich transaction data that underpins its new merchant‑lending arm, Foodics Capital (menabytes.com).
- Raised substantial growth capital (Series C and beyond) to expand across the GCC and launch inventory‑financing products, helping merchants grow without cash‑flow pinch.
Saudi fintechs are no longer followers; they are regional leaders exporting BNPL, open‑banking, and AI risk‑scoring innovations across the Gulf. As SAMA rolls out full open‑banking rules and supports more specialist licences, expect these disruptors to keep pushing the boundaries of financial inclusion and digital convenience.
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