Tarabut Gateway Raises $32 Million to Expand Saudi Open Banking

Open banking platform Tarabut Gateway hopes to expand in Saudi Arabia after raising $32 million.

The company announced the Series A funding round Wednesday (May 3) in a news release provided to PYMNTS, saying it wants to use the money to attract new talent and form new partnerships in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

“Open banking is reshaping the financial landscape in KSA and the wider Middle East, and we at Tarabut Gateway are proud to be at the forefront of this innovation,” said founder and CEO Abdulla Almoayed in the release. “This fundraise reflects the potential of open banking, our advanced technology and the trust placed in us by our partners both in KSA and globally.”

Tarabut Gateway has reached more than 60% market coverage in KSA via partnerships with banks such as Alinma Bank, Arab National Bank, Saudi National Bank and Riyad Bank, according to the release.

The Series A was led by Saudi-focused investment firm Pinnacle Capital, with participation from Aljazira Capital, Visa, Tiger Global and other existing investors.

Open banking and other forms of FinTech innovation represent a central pillar of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy for economic development.

In addition to the open banking framework and various regulatory sandboxes, key milestones achieved in the past two years include new licenses for the country’s first fully digital banks and the arrival of regional FinTech players from neighboring Gulf states.

As FinTech executives from other parts of the region have often repeatedly told PYMNTS, Saudi Arabia’s large market and increasingly sophisticated regulatory and technical infrastructure make it an attractive place for businesses coming out of Gulf FinTech hubs such as Dubai and Bahrain to expand.

The Series A follows March’s announcement that Tarabut Gateway had moved into the Gulf region’s busy cryptocurrency market via a partnership with Rain, the first regulated crypto asset trading platform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

“The partnership is the company’s first collaboration with a crypto asset service provider,” Tarabut said at the time. “It will bring about faster, cost-effective fiat-to-crypto transactions to Bahrain end-users and enable funding payments directly from user bank accounts without the need to leave Rain’s platform.”

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