Saudi company Hala has received a license from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) to provide debt-based crowdfunding solutions to its users. This license will help the company offer comprehensive financial technology solutions to targeted establishments, according to Hala’s Chairman, Esam Alnahdi, in an emailed response to Forbes Middle East. Alnahdi added that his company aims to become a future bank for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Founded in 2018, Hala provides financial technology services to help users manage and develop their projects through products including electronic wallets, payment solutions such as point-of-sale (POS) systems, mobile POS, electronic cashier service (ECR), prepaid cards, and expense management.
Hala has more than 100,000 clients, and transactions on its platform exceed 18 billion SAR annually. Hala also ranked 19th on Forbes Middle East’s Top 30 Fintech Companies list for 2023.
The Hala platform enables SMEs to digitize their payments and manage sales and operations through cards, digital wallets, cashier systems, and POS devices.
In February 2023, the startup acquired the UAE-based payment services platform Paymennt.com. Hala aims to offer its services to SMEs in Saudi Arabia, which includes 1.22 million companies. The total facilities provided to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises amount to 263 billion SAR, according to Alnahdi.
With the latest license to Hala, the number of companies licensed by the Saudi Central Bank for the same activity rose to 11, while the total number of SAMA-licensed financial institutions reached 62.
