The Saudi-based fintech savings platform Hakbah has raised a $2 million pre-Series A round to address the savings crisis in the Middle East by digitising financial habits and leveraging data to better understand customers’ needs and behaviours.
In Saudi Arabia, 70 per cent of the population does not have emergency savings, while the household savings rate averages only 1.6 per cent.
Hakbah’s platform provides legal and digital access to finance via savings and aims to increase financial inclusion and literacy by offering a sophisticated user experience.
The company aims to digitise the $6 billion rotating savings and credit association market in Saudi Arabia and the wider region.
The company’s social savings platform has seen organic growth of more than 20x in 2022, with 18,000 customers saving more than US$35 million – and after it gained approval from the Saudi Central Bank, it has attracted more than 120,000 active and verified users.The funds will be used to expand the platform’s presence in Saudi Arabia, improve user experience, and enhance the savings engine algorithm.
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