Fintech

According to Fintech Saudi’s 2022 annual report, the Kingdom has witnessed a 79% increase in fintech firms compared to the last year. Currently there are 147 fintechs companies operating in the Kingdom and the target is to reach 525 companies by year 2030.

Since the inception of Fintech Saudi, in a short span of 4 years, the Kingdom has seen a 14.7X growth in the number of fintechs.

SAR 3.95 billion has been invested into fintech companies in Saudi Arabia and over 100,000 people have engaged in fintech-related events, training courses and internships.

The desired economic impact Saudi Arabia is working to achieve by 2030 is 525 fintech players, 18K fintech jobs, SAR 13.3 billion direct GDP and SAR 12.2 billion cumulative VC investments.

In 2018 Fintech Saudi was launched by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) in partnership with the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to act as a catalyst for the development of the financial services technology (fintech) industry in Saudi Arabia, in coordination with the Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP) of Saudi Vision 2030. Regulatory Sandbox launched by SAMA and the FinTech Lab launched by the CMA have been a catalyst for the development of the fintech industry in Saudi Arabia.

Over the last few years Saudi Arabian Capital Market has evolved 360 degrees. In 2015 it took the decision to open Tadawul to foreign investors, in 2017 it launched the Saudi Parallel Market (NOMU), in 2018 it launched FinTech Lab, followed by the inclusion of Saudi Arabia into the MSCI Emerging Markets Index in 2019 and in the same year listing of Saudi Aramco.

FinTech Lab provides a simplified regulatory framework to support the testing of innovative business models and emerging technologies through Experimental Permits for the following activities:

Equity crowdfunding – Equity crowdfunding platform allows investors to participate in funding small and medium sized enterprises in exchange for shares in such enterprise. The service is provided through an electronic platform owned and monitored by the permitted Company.

Robo-Advisory – It is a platform that allows clients to get advice on securities or investment scheme through direct access to an automated online platform/application. Additionally, the platform is able to offer automated online discretionary investment management, where the clients can automatically make investments through the platform/application by giving the management of the company the responsibility to invest on the client's behalf, within parameters and mandates agreed with the client, on an ongoing basis. The service is provided through an online platform/application owned and monitored by the Management of the Company.

Offering and Investment in Debt instruments – It is a platform for offering and investment in debt instruments which enables SMEs to obtain the required funding by arranging the offering of Sukuk to finance projects, and offering them to the collective investors registered in the platform.

The Use of DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) to arrange the offering of securities & custody services – It is a platform that uses Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to arrange the offering of securities (Sukuk as a preliminary stage) to investors, in coordination with the Issuer and the Authorized Person (AP) assigned by the Issuer as an Offering Advisor

Social Trading – Social Trading platform allows a group of clients (followers' clients) to access the investment portfolios of other clients (followed clients) and the executed transaction in their portfolios, in order to seek guidance from their investment strategies.

Investment and Real Estate Funds Distribution Platform – This is the platform which is the basis of the startup business opportunity that is being presented in this report.