Saudi BNPL Firm Tamara Raises $110 Million Led By Checkout.com

Checkout.com, an eCommerce company, is leading a $110 million funding round for Saudi payments firm Tamara, which bills itself “the leading buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider” in the Middle East. The deal would be one of the region’s largest-ever startup venture rounds.

Bloomberg reported that the funding, which includes both equity and debt, would be used to expand Tamara’s operations — first in the Persian Gulf region and then across the wider Middle East. The company raised $6 million in seed funding at the start of this year.

“Due to the pandemic, online retail and digital payments have reached mainstream consumers,” said Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Tamara’s co-founder and CEO. The result, he said, is a demand for his company’s services.

Riyadh-based Tamara has been growing rapidly, with its user base and transaction volumes soaring month after month, according to Bloomberg. The BNPL company, founded last year, offers its customers the chance to pay for their online purchases after 30 days or in installments.

Tamara estimates that the BNPL sector could grow to $680 billion in transaction volumes by 2025. Companies like Tamara make money by charging the merchants who use its service.

The investment in Tamara will help it to “expand rapidly, driving greater conversions for retailers and offer more flexibility for consumers,” said Sebastian Reis, executive vice president at Checkout.com, a digital payments firm.

London-based Checkout.com tripled its valuation at the beginning of the year to $15 billion. The company had reeled in $450 million in venture capital, in a funding round led by New York technology investment firm Tiger Global Management.

Checkout.com Founder and CEO Guillaume Pousaz said in a press release at the time that the new funding “reflects our market-leading position.” Pousaz added that the payments sector touch every aspect of a business, from customers’ experiences to a company’s finesse in tapping new opportunities and rolling out new products.

Founded in 2012, Checkout.com specializes in processing international payments for eCommerce businesses.