Saudi Arabia-based food and beverages (F&B) retail and restaurant management platform FOODICS, has officially launched its micro lending arm, FOODICS CAPITAL.

The foodtech startup has raised $100 million (SAR 375 million) in order to support Saudi F&B merchants post Covid-19 through Sharia-compliant micro loans.

“This fund is set to revolutionise SME lending, as it will enable faster and more flexible lending than most of the lending facilities in the region. Our application process is…straightforward, as all is completed online on our platform,” said Abdullah Tahboub, chief financial officer at FOODICS.

FOODICS CAPITAL is planning to offer loans from $5,000 (SAR 18,750), up to $133,000 (SAR 500,000) and initial approvals can take as little as 24 hours with final approvals made within seven days. 

The company has partnered with the Saudi Arabia-based Sharia-compliant commercial and consumer financing firm Maalem Finance, highlighting that the product has received the approval of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA). 

Founded in 2014 by Ahmad Al-Zaini and Mosab Al-Othmani, FOODICS offers a point of sale (POS) solution and management platform which helps restaurants and cloud kitchens owners manage their business.

“With cashflow being a critical pain point for small business owners right now, we wanted to be able to offer them a one stop shop that also covers their finance needs and enables them to accelerate their growth rate,” said Ahmad Al-Zaini, co-founder and CEO of FOODICS.

Al-Zaini previously told Wamda that FOODICS CAPITAL will first be available in Saudi Arabia this year and later in Egypt and in the rest of its markets in 2021.

The company has so far serviced over 5000 customers and processed over a billion orders through its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, totaling over $2 billion gross merchandise volume (GMV) transactions in 2019 and catering to more than 10,000 F&B outlets.