Lamaa Gets Investment in Series A From Wa’ed for SMB Digitization

Wa’ed, the entrepreneurship arm of Saudi Aramco, has invested in the Riyadh-based FinTech startup Lamaa, the companies announced Thursday (Dec. 2).

Lamaa focuses on supply chain finance and buy now, pay later (BNPL) services for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

The SAR 19 million ($5 million) Pre-Series A funding will help out with developing Lamaa’s Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS), which will allow more factoring across suppliers.

Lamaa’s goal is to look at closing funding gaps for small businesses whose size precludes them from getting credit risk ratings which could, in turn, could affect their cash flow. Through enabling early invoice payments on its digital market, Lamaa will give a way for corporate treasuries to deploy surplus funds with discounts.

In addition, approved and unpaid invoices will be able to be listed for banks and financial institutions with the goal of clearing reduced payments.

The press release says the goal is to let SMB suppliers access shorter cash conversion cycles without worrying about credit history or other things like promissory notes, collateral or individual investors.

“We are so honored and privileged to have attained the trust of two of the most reputable backers in the Kingdom,” said Sumeet Khutale, founder of Lamaa. “We intend to use the additional funding to scale Lamaa into a major regional provider of [SMB] liquidity enabling [SMB] growth with immediate plans for expansion into Egypt and the UAE.”

The release goes on to say Wa’ed’s investment, co-led with Raed Ventures, was driven by their vision to make more SMBs digital.

Digitization is a hot topic as of late, and in another development, Mastercard is teaming with Meta to offer a webinar for training on digitization.

PYMNTS writes that this will come with things like industry expert insights and a masterclass on dealing with uncertainty.

Read more: Mastercard, Meta Team on SMB Digitization Webinar