Goldman-Backed Saudi Fintech Firm Tamara Hits Unicorn Valuation

Tamara, a Saudi Arabian fintech company that has been backed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has hit unicorn valuation, having been valued at more than $1 billion in its latest funding round. This makes it Saudi Arabia's first homegrown fintech unicorn.

The firm has recently raised $340 million in a Series C equity funding round led by Sanabil Investments, a wholly owned company by the Public Investment Fund, and SNB Capital, a unit of the kingdom's largest bank. In November 2023, Tamara had a debt raise backed by Goldman Sachs.

Considered one of the Middle East's largest buy now, pay later startups, Tamara operates in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, working with over 30,000 merchants to serve more than 10 million users. Tamara announced that it's beginning to consider an initial public offering sometime in the next few years.

Buy Now, Pay Later is experiencing rapid growth in Saudi Arabia. According to the SAMA Fintech 2022 report, 76 thousand customers were registered in a Buy Now, Pay Later service in 2020, which grew to 3 million customers in 2021, and then 10 million in 2022. Digital payment volumes are expected to increase by 20% CAGR until 2025, reaching 13 billion transactions with an overall value of $170 billion.