• Saudi Arabia-based fintech Malaa Technologies, has raised $1.7 million in its Seed round with participation from Impact46, Khawarizmi ventures, Venture Souq, WealthWell, and several angel investors.
• Founded in 2020 by Ali Alorainy and Faisal Alqarni, Malaa facilitates access to expense management and promotes a culture of savings in communities.
• The fintech recently obtained a permit from the Saudi Central Bank regulator (SAMA) to operate open banking activities.

Press release:

Saudi financial technology startup Malaa Technologies has raised SAR6.4 million ($1.7 million) in its Seed round with participation from Impact46, Khawarizmi ventures, Venture Souq, WealthWell, and a number of angel investors.

Established back in November 2020, the startup was founded by Ali Alorainy and Faisal Alqarni who both come with diverse experiences in finance and technology. Malaa recently announced obtaining SAMA’s permit to operate open banking activities with the aim to help individuals make better financial decisions through cutting edge technologies in big data and artificial intelligence

Abdulaziz Alturki, MD of Khawarizmi Ventures, said “Malaa team is a great example of aspiring entrepreneurs who took a bold step as the first fintech company to launch its services on top of Open Banking. Malaa will contribute to facilitating access to expense management and promoting a culture of savings in communities. We are pleased to have joined their journey in achieving their mission of raising financial awareness and personal financial management”

Mohammed Alnasyan, from impact46 team, adds: “There is an increase in financial awareness driven by changing consumer behaviour globally and a number of government initiatives locally. Along with the Open Banking Policy, the need for personnel tools to manage and take effect of this major shift in the financial sector is evident. Malaa has a unique approach to addressing this shift with its solutions from financial management, investment, and especially lending. We have a long history with Malaa's founders and we have always been impressed by their ambition and resilience. We are believers in Malaa team and vision and are happy to support their journey"

VentureSouq General Partner stated that “Our FinTech thesis includes personal finance management where we think there is significant whitespace in the MENA region and we are excited about Malaa’s solutions-based approach starting with savings for millennials and Gen Z users as a tool to make better borrowing and investing decisions. We are thrilled to be joining Ali and Faisal on their journey.”