Manafa secures USD 28 million Series A round

Manafa, a Saudi crowdfunding platform, raises USD 28 million in a round led by STV and Wa’ed Ventures.

Manafa, a Saudi-based debt and investment company, has announced the close of its Series A round, raising USD 28 million in funding. The round was led by STV and Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco.

Manafa: Providing access to financing for SMEs

Founded in 2018 by Abdulaziz Al-Adwani, Manafa aims to provide tailored financial products to SMEs in various sectors by offering debt and equity financing based on a crowdfunding model. This approach allows institutional investors like financial institutions and investment funds or Individual Investors to seek opportunities among SMEs through debt and equity securities. Manafa’s platforms are licensed by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA). 

According to the company, Manafa aims to bridge the financing gap experienced by SMEs by opening investment opportunities up to a larger part of the local retail and institutional market. To date, the company has funded more than 180 SMEs, with the participation of over 100,000 retail and institutional investors.

Accelerating growth

The funds will be used to accelerate Manafa’s growth with Saudi Arabia and to expand its offerings through new products and financing solutions. The company also aims to double the number of investors.

Abdulaziz Al-Adwani, founder and CEO of Manafa Capital, said, “At Manafa, and since its establishment, we were focused on attracting Saudi competent talents that helped in building a sophisticated technical infrastructure, that has enabled the financing of SMEs in less than 48 hours through a network of more than a hundred thousand investors. Manafa is planning to launch a new set of products that tackle quick access to financing and capital and empowers SMEs to fuel their growth.”

Eng. Amr Murad, co-founder and chairman of Manafa, said, “The idea of Manafa started with the launch of the Financial Sector Development Program as one of the Vision 2030 realization programs. Today, and within a short period, we were able to transform one of the vision’s goals into a reality that efficiently contributes to the providing of financing, investment and savings solutions through solid, effective and reliable technology-enabled business models, and we aim – with the completion of this round – to work with our partners to increase the impact of Manafa products and solutions on the growth of private sector companies and enhance the empowerment of financial planning for individuals”.

Regional trends

Saudi represents one of the MENA region’s ‘Big 4’ markets for investments. Fintech investments continue to dominate, followed by e-commerce, delivery and mobility startups.