Saudi Fintech Hakbah Closes $2 Million Pre-Series A Funding Round

• Saudi Arabia-based fintech Hakbah has closed a $2 million pre-Series A funding round, financed by Global Ventures and Aditum Investment Management.
• Founded in 2018 by Dimitar Kazakov and Naif AbuSaida, Hakbah is a social savings platform that allows users to save and access funds through the rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) method.
• Proceeds will be used to accelerate Hakbah’s presence in Saudi Arabia, improve the user journey, and enhance its savings engine algorithm.
• Company is permitted by SAMA to test its innovative savings services in the Regulatory Sandbox

 

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Hakbah, the Saudi-based fintech savings platform, announces its successful closing of a $2 million pre-Series A funding round.

Global Ventures - MENA’s leading venture capital firm and DIFC-based Aditum Investment Management participated in the round, providing Hakbah with its first institutional capital. The funding follows approval granted by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).

Proceeds will be used to accelerate Hakbah’s presence in Saudi Arabia, improve the user journey, and enhance its savings engine algorithm - to optimally serve customers seeking to save in an innovative, accessible manner, with a social impact.

Hakbah is one of the fastest-growing companies in the region. Organic growth in 2022 was over 20x, as it helped 18,000 customers save over $35 million. Hakbah strengthens financial inclusion via social savings, and a solid value proposition - which has driven unprecedented demand from 120,000 active, verified and ready-to-serve customers on its platform. 

Hakbah is tackling the Middle East savings crisis; innovatively digitising financial habits, and leveraging data, needs and behaviours. In Saudi Arabia, 70 per cent of Saudis do not have emergency savings, with the household savings rate averaging 1.6 per cent only. 

Related: An ultimate guide to fintech in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Naif AbuSaida, Founder of Hakbah, said: "We are proud to have two strong financial institutions, Global Ventures and Aditum, as our primary investors. They share our values, vision, and ambition to elevate the savings industry to the next level. Savings are an important pillar of the Financial Sector Development Programme and increasing them is a key focus for Saudi Vision 2030.”

“Hakbah will play a key role in supporting this goal by widening its savings offering and partnerships for employees, gig-workers, students, housewives, and many others." 

Noor Sweid, Managing Partner of Global Ventures, commented: “While savings groups are the most popular form of alternative borrowing for unbanked groups in emerging economies, various pain points still define the user experience. These include inefficiencies in identifying and managing savings groups, to a lack of transparency, flexibility and consistency in payments. Hakbah is stepping in to digitise the $6 billion ROSCA market in Saudi Arabia and the wider region. We are thrilled to partner with Naif and the team on their mission to modernize financial savings and boost financial inclusion in the Kingdom and beyond.”

Lachlan Hughes, Head of Venture Capital at Aditum Investment Management, said: “We are thrilled to partner with Hakbah in their mission to drive financial inclusion and promote savings in the Gulf region. The powerful combination of Hakbah’s exceptional user experience, sophisticated back-end technology and partnerships with leading regional brands will empower millions of users to meet their savings goals. We are impressed with Naif's vision and leadership and look forward to supporting Hakbah as they continue to scale and make a meaningful impact in the region.”

Hakbah’s platform provides access to finance via savings in a legal and digital way; elevating traditional savings behaviour; enabling users to save for purpose; and increasing financial inclusion and literacy. Savings Groups are a popular and traditional savings behaviour in over 60 countries worldwide.

Related Article: The Evolution of Saudi Arabia's Startup Ecosystem 2010-2022

About Hakbah

Hakbah is a social savings platform - allowing users to save and access funds via social savings. Hakbah aims to make savings for purpose accessible and beneficial to everyone, especially the underbanked.

Hakbah empowers people to take control of their social savings without any hassle. Hakbah is permitted by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) to test its innovative services under the Regulatory Sandbox environment. And graduated from the DIFC FinTech Hive Accelerator Program 2019. To learn more about Hakbah, please visit https://www.hakbah.com

About Global Ventures

Global Ventures is an international venture capital firm, investing in founders and ideas scaling across emerging markets. Global Ventures backs global-minded founders that are leading growth-stage companies and using technology to transform emerging markets.

Portfolio companies include: Abhi, Altibbi, Enhance Fitness, Hive, Helium Health, Paymob, Proximie, Pyypl, Red Sea Farms, Sympl, Tarabut Gateway, Team Apt, and Zid.

More information can be found at https://www.global.vc/ 

About Aditum Investment Fund

Aditum Ventures is a UAE based venture capital fund backing aspirational founders to help scale their businesses across MENA and beyond. Aditum Ventures has expertise in fintech and B2B software and invests in high growth potential companies solving big problems with technology led solutions. 

The venture fund is part of Aditum Investment Management, a DFSA regulated asset manager. Hakbah is the firm’s 15th investment.  Aditum Ventures is led by Lachlan Hughes, supported by a dedicated investment team, and leverages the deep expertise of its parent company, Aditum Investment Management.