Saudi fintech Tamara closes $150 million debt financing round
Saudi Arabia-based fintech Tamara has closed a $150 million debt financing round from Goldman Sachs, making the startup’s total funding in equity and debt $366 million.
The fresh funds will enable Tamara to finance the demand for its flagship Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) product and continue its growth across new areas.
Co-founder, and CEO of Tamara, Abdulmajeed Alsukhan said, “This deal is the first of its kind in the region and a testament to the company’s performance and the team’s ability to win the trust of top-tier global financial institutions like Goldman Sachs during a difficult global macroeconomic climate. We believe that Goldman Sachs, with their track record in working with similar companies of our stage globally, is the ideal financing partner for Tamara. It is crucial for us to work with global and regional financial partners with strong balance sheets that have the capacity to provide incremental funding to support our vision.”
Tamara is a buy now pay later (BNPL) platform that allows consumers to buy a product and pay for it in installments.
Tamara’s aim is to empower people in their daily lives and revolutionize how they shop, pay, and bank. After its launch in 2020, the company has 6 million customers across Saudi Arabia, its home market, followed by neighboring GCC countries UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain.
“Providing excellent products and services to our customers across shopping, payments and banking is at the core of Tamara. The team has shown the ability to scale a complex B2B and B2C business model, and BNPL is just an initial offering. We see a much deeper demand that we can fulfil with the same technology and customer-first approach,” Abdulmajeed further stated.
Tamara facilitates commerce for more than 15,000 partner merchants who are offering products and services online and in-store. These partners include regional and global brands such as SHEIN, IKEA, Jarir, Noon, and H&M as well as local small and medium businesses.
This new fund comes after Tamara closed a $100 million Series B equity round from Sanabil Investments, Coatue, Shurooq Partners, Endeavor Catalyst, and existing investor, checkout.com. in August 2022.