Saudi fintech Hakbah closes $2M pre-Series A round

• Saudi Arabia-based fintech Hakbah has closed a $2 million pre-Series A funding round, funded 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 revolving savings and credit association (ROSCA) method.
• The proceeds will be used to accelerate Hakbah’s presence in Saudi Arabia, improve the user journey and improve the savings engine algorithm.

Press release:

Hakbah, the Saudi-based fintech savings platform, announces its successful close 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 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, and exploiting data, needs and behaviour. In Saudi Arabia, 70 percent of Saudis do not have emergency savings, with the household savings rate averaging just 1.6 percent.

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 take the savings industry to the next level. Savings is an important pillar of the development program for the financial sector, and increasing them 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 of Global Ventures, commented: “Although 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 committed to digitizing 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 increase 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 reach their savings goals. We are impressed by 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.