Tamara secures $150m from Goldman Sachs to propel growth

Saudi-based buy-now, pay-later startup Tamara has signed a $150 million funding facility with investment bank Goldman Sachs to fund its growth plan.

The loan, known as a ‘receivables warehouse facility’, will take the startup’s total funding in equity and debt to $366 million since its launch in September 2020. The funding will accelerate demand for its flagship buy-now, pay-later product and growth across new verticals.

In August 2022 Tamara raised $100 million in a fundraising round, which included the participation of Sanabil Investments, owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign Public Investment Fund.

The Riyadh-headquartered fintech has signed up six million customers since its inception. 

“It is crucial for us to work with global and regional financial partners with strong balance sheets that have the capacity to provide incremental funding to support our vision,” Tamara co-founder and CEO Abdulmajeed Alsukhan said in a statement.

He added the financing deal was “the first of its kind in the region”.

Tamara has partnered with over 15,000 merchants, including regional and global brands such as Shein, Ikea, Jarir, Noon and H&M, who offer online and in-store products and services. 

Saudi Arabia witnessed a nearly 25 percent year-on-year increase in the number of digital point-of-sale during January, driving the kingdom towards becoming a cashless economy.

Figures from the Saudi Central Bank showed 598,861 transactions in January for both ATM cash withdrawals and credit card transactions at retail outlets and other platforms.

Nezar Alhaidar, director of Fintech Saudi, an initiative set up by the kingdom’s central bank, said earlier that the sector is “on the cusp of being propelled onto the global stage”.