Hakbah, a Saudi Arabia-based FinTech savings platform, has secured $2m in its pre-Series A funding round, as it looks to bolster its presence in the country.
UAE-based venture capital firms Global Ventures and Aditum Investment Management participated in the funding round, which marks Hakbah’s first institutional capital.
With the fresh capital, Hakbah hopes to deepen its presence in Saudi Arabia, improve the user journey and enhance its savings engine algorithm.
Hakbah claims to be one of the fastest growing companies in the region. It experienced an organic growth rate of over 20-times in 2022 and helped a total of 18,000 customers save over $35m.
The FinTech company is tackling the Middle East savings crisis. In Saudi Arabia, 70% of people do not have emergency savings and the household savings rate averages at 1.6%, according to Hakbah.
To help address the problem, Hakbah offers social savings to bolster financial inclusion. It claims to be the first cooperative saving platform in Saudi Arabia and has 120,000 active users on the platform.
Global Ventures managing partner Noor Sweid said, “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 $6bn ROSCA market in Saudi Arabia, and the wider region. We are thrilled to partner with Naif and the team on their mission to modernise financial savings and boost financial inclusion in the Kingdom and beyond.”
The Saudi Arabia-based FinTech savings platform previously raised $1.2m for its seed round in 2021. It raised the funds to support product development and hiring more staff.
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