FinTech Lean raises $33 million in latest funding round

Lean intends to use the new capital to grow its team and further expand across the region

Saudi Arabian FinTech Lean Technologies has raised $33 million in its latest funding round that will allow it to expand its operations to new markets.

The funding round was led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India, with participation from existing investors Raed Ventures, Outliers, Shorooq and Jimco.

New investors Liberty City Ventures and Human Capital, and notable angels including Henrique Dubugras, founder of San Francisco-based financial services and technology company Brex; Jeff Immelt, former chief executive of GE; and American investor Michael Ovitz also took part in the round.

We started Lean with the aim of enabling the next generation of financial innovation in the Middle East, a mission deep-rooted in the hearts of our entire team. Lean is unleashing a new wave of cutting-edge financial solutions that will catalyse the lives of everyday people and businesses, Hisham Al-Falih, Lean’s co-founder and chief executive, said.

We are thrilled to be going on this journey with investors and cannot wait to see what the future has in store, he said.

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

Founded in September 2019 by Al-Falih and Aditya Sarkar, and ex-Silicon Valley technologist Ashu Gupta, Lean’s platform allows its clients to integrate with their customers’ bank accounts to retrieve pertinent account information or initiate instant bank transfers.

Start-ups in Saudi Arabia attracted a record $168m worth of venture capital (VC) funding through 54 transactions in the first half of 2021, according to data platform Magnitt. This is nearly 94 per cent of the money secured by the kingdom’s start-ups in 2020.