Tamara, a payments financial technology company, has closed a $100 million Series B funding round led by Sanabel Investments, which is owned by Public Investment Fund Saudi “PIF”.
The company added that it will use the funding to improve the experience of customers and store partners, as well as support innovation in the areas of payments and shopping.
Created in 2020, Tamara is the first fintech startup in the Buy Now Pay Later field to be accepted into the Saudi Central Bank’s beta environment, SAMA.
In an interview with Al Arabiya, the co-founder and CEO of Tamara, Abdul Majeed Al-Sikhan, said that the company is working in the field of buy now and pay later, adding that this field has been the subject of discussion during the recent period.
Al-Sikhan added that this activity is a way to pay in installments very small purchases that were not previously paid without any financial compensation to the customer.
He explained that the company’s work organizes the customer’s payment of the same product price in cash, but in installments within a short period without any fees.
Al-Sikhan pointed out that a large part of the customers who benefit from “Tamara” are not served by the financial sector in the required manner.
He said that “Tamara” discovered a loophole in the work of the financial sector, and therefore the demand for the company’s services was strong, explaining that the service was launched in September 2020 and we achieved a spread in more than 4,000 stores in huge companies such as Jarir, Ikea and Saco.
He explained that the number of the company’s customers reached 3 million, adding that this great demand was caused by the market’s urgent need for the quality of these products.
On the outcome of the latest financing, the CEO stated that it will be spent on product development amid the financial sector’s need for new products.