General Catalyst is providing funding through a $67.5 million Series B round to the fintech startup Lean Technologies. It is the first investment by the Kingdom for the venture capital firm and a host of other investors that include Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office and Bain Capital Ventures. The funding for Lean Technologies thus crosses more than $100 million so far.
Riyadh-headquartered Lean Technologies provides infrastructure to banks that ensures safe sharing of information between bank accounts and applications. The company designs bespoke solutions for account-to-account payments. Major clients already on the firm’s books include e& – the newly branded state telecom of Emirate- and ride-hailing super app, Careem. In total, volumes have exceeded $2 billion across all transactions processed on the firm’s solutions.
The investment forms part and parcel of the narrative for Saudi Arabia’s pursuit of its Vision 2030 initiative to diversify the economy and reduce dependence on oil through the development of new industries and corresponding sources of employment. According to Fintech’s big, Lean Technologies Chief Executive Hisham Al-Falih, the deal is “a strong vote of confidence in Saudi Arabia’s growth trajectory and its expanding fintech landscape”. He highlighted the immense future scope for expansion as he said that the sector has indeed seen a massive boom in the last couple of years but still had significant room to grow.
The Middle East and North Africa fintech industry could be estimated to reach $4.5 billion by 2025, according to a report recently done by McKinsey & Company. Fintech startups in Saudi Arabia have attracted over $1.84 billion in venture capital since 2018 and attracted $791 million this year. Active fintech firms in the Kingdom are estimated to stand at 216 and 525 by 2030.
Lean Technologies has also seen regulatory success in the Saudi Arabia, where its data solutions under the regulatory sandbox of the Saudi Central Bank have had a ripple effect in industries that go all the way from insurance and lending into marketplaces, verification of nearly one million accounts to date.
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