• Tamara, Saudi Arabia’s first homegrown fintech unicorn, has secured an asset-backed facility of up to $2.4 billion from Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Apollo funds.
• The facility refinances and upsizes a prior $500 million facility, with $1.4 billion funded upfront and a further $1 billion available over three years.
• Tamara was founded in 2020 by Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah, and Abdulmohsen Albabtain and offers buy now pay later (BNPL) services.
• New funding will support credit product expansion, payment innovation, and regional growth, aligning with Vision 2030 and the FSDP’s goal to boost SME contributions to GDP.
• In late 2023, Tamara raised a $340 million Series C round at a valuation of over $1 billion.

Press release:

Tamara, the first homegrown Saudi fintech unicorn, has secured the largest asset-backed facility of its kind in the region of up to $2.4 billion from major financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Citi and Apollo funds. This transaction fully refinances and upsizes a prior $500 million asset-backed facility arranged by Goldman Sachs.

The deal, which was announced during the Money 20/20 Middle East conference in Saudi Arabia, includes an initial $1.4 billion with an additional $1 billion available for a three-year period, pending further approvals. The funding is aimed at supporting Tamara's vision to expand into new credit and payment products.

"This landmark facility with our global financing partners accelerates our growth trajectory, empowering us to invest further in building the most customer-centric financial super-app on earth," said Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Co-Founder and CEO of Tamara. "Today’s milestone brings us one step closer to helping people own their dreams.”

The new capital is aimed at supporting the company's product diversification, including new credit and payment offerings. The facility also reflects a strategic commitment by Tamara and its financing partners to localised investment practices, aiming for sustainable growth within the regional ecosystem.

The asset-backed facility will increase Tamara’s lending power and help the platform grow well beyond its current 20 million customers while aligning with the success pillars of KSA’s Vision 2030 and the nation’s Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP) of enabling financial institutions to support private sector growth. Moreover, it is also set to promote the programme’s objective of advancing capital markets by attracting more support from local and global financial institutions and validating KSA as a hub for inward investment.  

Overall, the transaction builds on the capabilities of Tamara as the Kingdom’s first homegrown fintech unicorn since raising $340 million in its Series C funding round in December 2023. Tamara has grown its customer base to over 20 million, enabling transactions at more than 87,000 merchants, with plans for further regional expansion.