Arib Raises US$23.5 Million to Expand Saudi Digital Financing Marketplace

Arib has raised US$23.5 million to widen its digital financing marketplace across Saudi Arabia. Merak Capital led the round, which includes Sharia-compliant Murabaha financing facilities alongside conventional funding.

The company was founded in 2018 by Omar Alhammad, Mohamed Dessouky and Waleed Talat. Its platform sits between borrowers and regulated lenders. Banks and licensed financiers list their offers, customers compare them side by side, and an application follows from the borrowing need the customer describes.

The new capital is earmarked for two things first. Arib plans to expand the technology infrastructure behind the marketplace and to accelerate product development. It then intends to launch new financing products aimed at consumers, entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Those three groups already make up much of its user base. Arib's customers skew young, and its business users tend to be looking for a faster digital alternative to a branch visit or a paperwork-heavy application.

Structuring part of the raise as Murabaha facilities says something about the investor side of the market. Sharia compliance is a baseline requirement for lending products in the Kingdom, not a niche add-on, and a funding round built partly on Islamic contracts reflects continued demand for Islamic fintech products in Saudi Arabia.

Arib's raise also fits a broader turn in Saudi fintech toward infrastructure companies — the businesses building rails for embedded finance and digital lending — rather than consumer apps alone. Vision 2030's financial modernisation goals have supported that shift, and lending marketplaces sit close to the point where those rails meet actual borrowers.

Arib has not said which of the planned products will launch first, or on what timeline.