Hakbah – The Saudi-Based Fintech Savings Platform – Closes USD 2M Pre-Series A Funding Round
Hakbah – The Saudi-Based Fintech Savings Platform – Closes USD 2M Pre-Series A Funding Round
Hakbah, the Saudi-based fintech savings platform, announces its successful closing of a USD 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 financing follows approval given by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).
The proceeds will be used to accelerate Hakbah’s presence in Saudi Arabia, improve the user journey and improve the savings engine algorithm – to optimally serve customers who want to save in an innovative, accessible way, 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 empowers 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 tackles the austerity crisis in the Middle East; innovative digitization of financial habits, exploiting data, needs and behaviour. In Saudi Arabia, 70% of Saudis do not have emergency savings, and the household savings rate is only 1.6% on average.
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, visions and ambitions to lift the savings industry to the next level. Savings is an important pillar in the financial sector’s development Program and their increase is a key focus of Saudi Vision 2030.”
“Hakbah will play a key role in supporting this goal by expanding the savings offer and partnerships for employees, gig workers, students, housewives and many others.”
Noor Sweid, Managing Partner at Global Ventures, commented:
“Although savings groups are the most popular form of alternative loans 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 steps in to digitize the $6 billion ROSCA market in Saudi Arabia and the region as a whole. We are thrilled to partner with Naif and the team on their mission to modernize financial savings and increase financial inclusion in the Kingdom and beyond.”
Lachlan Hughes, head of venture capital at Aditum Investment Management, said:
“We are excited 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 bring millions of users opportunity to meet its 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 financing via savings in a legal and digital way; raise traditional saving behaviour; enables users to save for the purpose; and increase financial inclusion and literacy. Savings groups are a popular and traditional saving behavior in over 60 countries worldwide.
