Bahrain-founded fintech infrastructure company Tarabut has secured $50 million (SAR187 million) in strategic financing as it moves to deepen its operations in Saudi Arabia and expand its embedded finance and SME lending infrastructure.
The financing was backed by major regional financial and investment institutions, including Riyad Bank, X-Tech Fund managed by SAB Invest, GIB Saudi Arabia, Zamil Group and Kanoo Ventures, alongside other regional institutions.
However, the transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals, including approval from the Saudi Central Bank.
The new funding comes as the company seeks to bring customer verification, financial-data analysis, credit decisioning and financing into increasingly seamless digital experiences across the Kingdom.
What to Know About Tarabut
Founded in 2017 by Abdulla Almoayed, Tarabut is a financial infrastructure company that provides technology connecting financial institutions, businesses and consumers.
The company initially built its business around open banking, but has since expanded into embedded finance, payments and credit decisioning.
Rather than operating primarily as a traditional lender, Tarabut provides the digital infrastructure that enables financial institutions to securely access and use customer-permissioned financial information.
The company currently operates across Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and established its regional headquarters in Riyadh in 2025 as Saudi Arabia became an increasingly important market.
Tarabut says it has established connectivity with major Saudi banks and works with institutions including Saudi National Bank, Alinma Bank and SAB, positioning the company as a technology layer between financial institutions and the customers and businesses they serve.
Why Tarabut is Targeting Embedded Finance
The latest financing is closely tied to Tarabut’s ambition to expand embedded finance, a model that allows financial services to be integrated directly into non-financial digital platforms.
Instead of customers leaving an application or business platform to visit a bank separately, financial services such as identity verification, credit assessment and financing can be incorporated into the digital journey they are already using.
Tarabut intends to develop infrastructure that brings these processes together, allowing partner financial institutions to offer financial products under their own brands.
The company’s technology can connect financial information, verification and credit decisioning so that customers and businesses can potentially access financial services through faster and more integrated digital experiences.
This model represents a shift from banking as a standalone destination towards banking services becoming increasingly embedded within everyday digital products and commercial platforms.
SME Financing Emerges as a Major Focus
Small and medium-sized enterprises are at the centre of Tarabut’s expansion strategy, with the company seeking to help financial institutions assess businesses using more current financial information.
Traditionally, lenders have relied heavily on historical financial statements and other static documentation when determining whether a business qualifies for financing.
Tarabut’s infrastructure allows lenders, with the customer’s permission, to complement those traditional documents with real-time financial behaviour and cash-flow information.
This could give financial institutions a more current understanding of a company’s financial position and potentially reduce the time required to make financing decisions.
Explaining the company’s strategy, Tarabut founder and CEO Abdulla Almoayed said, “The biggest prize is SME finance.” He added that financial institutions want to serve more creditworthy businesses and that Tarabut’s infrastructure helps them “turn real financial behaviour into a clearer picture for decision-making.”
The company, however, does not replace the lender; the financial institution remains responsible for the ultimate financing decision.
Tarabut’s Technology Already Being Used by Financial Institutions
Tarabut’s expansion comes as its infrastructure is already being incorporated into financial products in Saudi Arabia.
American Express Saudi Arabia has used the company’s open-banking technology to assess requests for credit-limit increases, including applications from self-employed and non-salaried customers.
The technology can provide financial institutions with additional information about a customer’s financial activity rather than relying exclusively on conventional salary information.
Saudi National Bank has also announced an SME point-of-sale lending product powered by Tarabut and distributed through payments company Geidea, while Tarabut has partnered with SAB on embedded finance.
These deployments illustrate how Tarabut’s infrastructure can operate behind the scenes while financial institutions maintain the direct relationship with their customers.
The company says its technology has processed more than five billion API calls across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, reflecting the scale of digital communication its infrastructure has facilitated between connected financial systems.
Funding Builds on Previous Expansion and Acquisitions
The latest $50 million financing follows Tarabut’s $32 million Series A round in 2023, which was led by Pinnacle Capital with participation from Visa, Tiger Global and Aljazira Capital.
Before that, the company raised $25 million across Seed and Pre-Series A rounds in 2021.
Tarabut has also expanded its capabilities through acquisitions. In 2024, it acquired UK account-to-account payments company Vyne, adding payment initiation capabilities to its open-banking infrastructure.
Earlier in 2026, it acquired Bahrain-based AI engineering company Servable, adding capabilities around synthetic data, model training and AI-powered decisioning for regulated financial institutions.
Together, the funding and acquisitions point to a broader strategy that extends beyond open banking into payments, artificial intelligence, credit assessment and embedded financial services.
The latest capital is expected to support further expansion and integrations in Saudi Arabia as Tarabut develops its infrastructure and seeks to make digital financing more accessible through partner financial institutions and third-party platforms.
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