Fina, a Saudi embedded finance platform, has successfully secured a Shariah-compliant facility worth $75 million (approximately SAR 282 million) from Fasanara Capital, a London-based investment manager. This funding aims to bolster embedded working capital financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the Kingdom. As the financial arm of SILQ, a B2B enablement and fintech ecosystem formed from the merger of Saudi Arabia’s Sary and South Asia’s ShopUp, Fina integrates financing solutions directly into merchants' existing digital workflows, facilitating seamless access to capital while they manage inventory, payments, and daily operations.
The Saudi government continues to prioritize SME growth as part of its Vision 2030 agenda, which seeks to diversify the economy and enhance private-sector participation. Despite a growing lending landscape, SMEs still encounter significant barriers in accessing timely and flexible working capital, with the financing gap estimated at around SAR 300 billion, according to the Saudi SME Bank. Fina addresses this critical gap by embedding financial solutions into the operational fabric of businesses, thereby enabling them to leverage real commercial activity for capital access without necessitating separate financing processes.
Mohammed Aldossary, Co-founder of SILQ and CEO of SILQ Financial, emphasized the importance of providing capital that aligns with the operational realities of merchants. He noted that Fina's approach is designed to meet the unique needs of businesses, ensuring that financing is not just accessible but also practical within their existing workflows. Over the past year, Fina has deployed SAR 1.5 billion in financing and aims to unlock an additional SAR 3 billion in liquidity for over 2,000 businesses this year, supported by the new facility.
Fasanara Capital, which manages around $6 billion in assets and specializes in asset-based finance and technology-enabled private credit, is well-positioned to support Fina's growth trajectory. The partnership is expected to further enhance the capabilities of SILQ's ecosystem, which has already supported more than 50,000 businesses and facilitated over SAR 20 billion in total transaction volume to date. This funding not only underscores the demand for innovative financing solutions in the region but also highlights the increasing importance of embedded finance in addressing the unique challenges faced by SMEs in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi government continues to prioritize SME growth as part of its Vision 2030 agenda, which seeks to diversify the economy and enhance private-sector participation. Despite a growing lending landscape, SMEs still encounter significant barriers in accessing timely and flexible working capital, with the financing gap estimated at around SAR 300 billion, according to the Saudi SME Bank. Fina addresses this critical gap by embedding financial solutions into the operational fabric of businesses, thereby enabling them to leverage real commercial activity for capital access without necessitating separate financing processes.
Mohammed Aldossary, Co-founder of SILQ and CEO of SILQ Financial, emphasized the importance of providing capital that aligns with the operational realities of merchants. He noted that Fina's approach is designed to meet the unique needs of businesses, ensuring that financing is not just accessible but also practical within their existing workflows. Over the past year, Fina has deployed SAR 1.5 billion in financing and aims to unlock an additional SAR 3 billion in liquidity for over 2,000 businesses this year, supported by the new facility.
Fasanara Capital, which manages around $6 billion in assets and specializes in asset-based finance and technology-enabled private credit, is well-positioned to support Fina's growth trajectory. The partnership is expected to further enhance the capabilities of SILQ's ecosystem, which has already supported more than 50,000 businesses and facilitated over SAR 20 billion in total transaction volume to date. This funding not only underscores the demand for innovative financing solutions in the region but also highlights the increasing importance of embedded finance in addressing the unique challenges faced by SMEs in Saudi Arabia.
Source: Fintech News ME
