Islamic digital financier Lendo has closed a Series A funding round which will be used to bolster its platform capabilities and expand its offering.
Licensed by the Saudi Central Bank through the regulator’s sandbox, Lendo is a crowdfinancing marketplace targeting SMEs, enabling them to prefinance their outstanding invoices in a completely digital environment. The SAR27 million (US$7.19 million) Series A round was led by Derayah Ventures and participated by Seedra, Shorooq Partners, 500 Startups and Impact46.
“The additional investment helped us create more opportunities for Lendo to finance businesses during the challenging economic climate brought about by COVID-19. At Lendo, our strategy is to provide access to low profit rate financing to SMEs and help funders receive better returns,” shared Osama Al Raee, CEO and co-founder of Lendo.
According to Osama, since the young start-up’s launch in 2019, the platform has financed over 100 invoices to the tune of over SAR60 million (US$15.98 million), returning over SAR3 million (US$799,198) to investors in profit. And the profit distribution pipeline is looking healthy.
Co-Founder and COO Mohammad Jawabri noted that there was a “huge surge” in the number of SMEs which turned to Lendo during the pandemic to keep the businesses afloat, resulting in a 25% month-on-month growth. Lendo, which is looking to expand into the MENA region, is participating as the only fintech and Saudi start-up in the first regional cohort of the Google Accelerator program.