Foodics takes largest stake in Funding Souq to push embedded restaurant lending
The Saudi Shariah-compliant lender will use restaurant sales data to underwrite embedded loans for Foodics merchants; deal terms were not disclosed.
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Foodics has taken a strategic stake in Funding Souq, making the restaurant technology company the Saudi fintech's largest investor. Neither side disclosed the amount or the ownership share it carries.
The money is meant to fund Funding Souq's growth and widen the embedded financing it can put in front of small businesses, the two companies said.
Funding Souq was founded in 2020 by Martin Jaouni, who is also its chief executive. It runs a Shariah-compliant financing platform regulated by the Saudi Central Bank and the Dubai Financial Services Authority, offering business loans, invoice financing and supplier financing across Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Credit priced on restaurant data
The partnership moves that regulated lending capacity into Foodics' merchant base. Funding Souq will offer embedded financing to restaurants and hospitality operators on Foodics' network, using their sales and performance data to assess creditworthiness. Loans can then be sized around how each merchant actually trades, rather than against a generic scorecard.
The two companies frame the combination as tucking regulated lending rails and SME credit expertise inside Foodics' technology and data. Jaouni said the result is the first fully automated business loan in the Saudi market, pairing Foodics' reach across restaurants and hospitality with Funding Souq's regulated infrastructure. He described it as an acceleration of a wider embedded finance effort the company intends to carry into other sectors where small and medium-sized businesses are underserved, in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Anas AlGhanim, vice president of investments and corporate development at Foodics, said Funding Souq has built a strong financing platform with clear room to scale and serve a broader slice of the SME market. He said the investment supports the company's next phase of growth and joins Funding Souq's financing capability to Foodics' technology ecosystem, broadening the financing services available to Foodics customers.
Foodics builds its own lending arm
The deal lands as Foodics expands its financial services offering. Capital 2.0, its automated financing product for restaurants, is intended to deploy $100 million in its first year, a launch and an investment that reflect a push to put access to capital inside its restaurant technology ecosystem.
Funding Souq brings its own scale to the table. More than 10,000 investors have joined its platform, and the company says it is on course to arrange $1 billion of financing for SMEs within three years as it widens its Shariah-compliant lending book.
Foodics has set out a longer-term plan to move past restaurant software and into broader financial services. Its stated ambition is to become a bank for restaurants and the hospitality sector.
