Lean Technologies, Saudi-based FinTech startup, has raised $33M in its latest funding round. The Series A round was led by renowned venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India, with participation from existing investors RAED Ventures, Outliers, Shorooq, and JIMCO. Newcomers Liberty City Ventures, Human Capital, and notable angel investors such as: Brex’s Henrique Dubugras, former GE CEO Jeff Immelt, and Michael Ovitz who also participated in the round.

The startup was co-founded in 2019 by former Stanford roommates Hisham Al-Falih and Aditya Sarkar, and ex-Silicon Valley technologist Ashu Gupta. Lean’s platform and APIs allows its clients to seamlessly integrate with their customer’s bank accounts to retrieve pertinent account information or initiate instant bank transfers. The Lean APIs have unlocked a myriad of use cases and are currently being utilized by some of the region’s leading financial institutions across various verticals, including those in the remittances, cryptocurrency, and investment spaces.

Lean, which has offices in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Cairo, and London, intends to use these proceeds to grow its team and further expand across the region.

“Sequoia Capital India is thrilled to partner with Hisham, Aditya, Ashu, Mehdi, and the Lean team. In a very short span of time, they have built a very robust tech platform, hired an exceptional team, and have a growing list of some of the best customers in the MENAP region. Lean is leading a financial revolution with its open banking platform and helping redefine financial services and products across the region. They are a visionary team, in the early innings of a very aspirational journey, and we look forward to the road ahead,” Amit Jain, Managing Director of Sequoia India, concluded.

Lean Technologies is well positioned to further support the region’s burgeoning industry, which is experiencing rapid growth with venture investments growing 163% year on year. This sector is further buoyed by regulators’ introduction of FinTech sandboxes and forward-thinking regulations across the region. With the recent announcement of Open Banking by the Saudi Central Bank, Lean aims to be the first Saudi aggregator to enable the booming sector within the Kingdom, which is undergoing its own economic transformation driven by the government’s ambitious Vision 2030 plan.