Saudi fintech Raqamyah raises $2.3 million for its crowdlending platform

Riyadh-headquartered crowdlending platform Raqamyah has raised $2.3 million in an investment round led by Impact46, it announced in a statement to MENAbytes today. The round also included participation of Vision Ventures, Mad’a Investment, Al Yusr, Fadeed Investment, and some angel investors.

Founded by Ammar Bakheet who has over 20 years of experience in the financial sector, Raqamyah enables SMEs to access financing (term, invoice, inventory and recently launched POS financing) up to SAR 5 million ($1.33 million) from individual and institutional lenders through its online platform.

The businesses looking for financing create their applications on the platform and receive an answer from Raqamyah’s team within 3 working days. If the application is approved, their business is listed on Raqamyah and financers start funding the requests.

The financers then receive monthly payments and profits as the businesses make their repayments. The platform also offers lenders to automate their lending investments so whenever there’s an opportunity that fits the criteria, Raqamyah will invest on behalf of the lender (given there’s money in their Raqamyah account). It has recently introduced POS Lending with the help of a partner, enabling SMEs to receive loans and pay their monthly installments through the sales made through POS machines.

“The first POS loan posted in January 2021 was oversubscribed by SAR 2 Million and was fully funded by the automatic lending tool,” it said in a statement adding that it is the first platform to have introduced automatic lending and POS loans.

Ammar Bakheet, the founder and CEO of Raqamyah said, “Peer-to-peer lending is one of the fastest-growing areas in fintech and it is at its early stages in terms of innovation and disruption.”

He also said that using technology to enhance the credit assessment process will be the way forward to reduce origination cost and improve borrowers’ experience.

On its website, the Saudi startup notes that all its products are Shari’a compliant. The startup has been part of SAMA sandbox since July 2019 and claims to have been growing double-digit on a monthly basis. It said that it has funded over 40 loans in a year. The website also notes that it offers lower rates (to the businesses) than the traditional lending options available in the market.

Raqamyah plans to use the latest funds to comply with SAMA’s full license requirements, invest in tech and talent, and grow its products.

Basmah Alsinaidi from Impact46 said, “[The] prospects of growth for the company considering developments in fintech scene in Saudi are exciting. We have great faith in Ammar and his team to pave the way in this front.”

Kais Al Essa, Founding Partner and CEO of Vision Ventures said, “SMEs are one of the main pillars of any economy and the region is no different. SMEs need funding to expand and prosper and Raqamyah is here to support SMEs in their growth journey. We believe Raqamyah’s team is well equipped to lead this space.”