A fresh raise and a higher mark
Tabby locked in a $6.5 billion valuation in new financing led by Hong Kong's Blue Pool Capital, an existing backer. The $233 million raise also included HSG, Wellington Management and Arbor Ventures, the company said in a statement, and set aside a slice to let employees sell part of their holdings.
Blue Pool Capital manages assets for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Chairman Joseph Tsai. Its mandate spans public markets, private investments, credit, and real estate. The deal underscores deepening financial ties between China and the Middle East that have continued despite uncertainties tied to the Iran war.
How it compares
The new mark lifts Tabby from the $4.5 billion price tag it reached in a secondary sale less than a year ago. It also places the company above New York-listed Klarna Group Plc, with the company's market cap now around $5.2 billion - down by over 60% since it went public last September - as key geographies such as Germany weakened.
What Tabby is building
Headquartered in Riyadh, Tabby first took off with buy now, pay later and is pushing into broader financial services. In Saudi Arabia, it was recently granted licenses for consumer and small-business lending and it bought the Tweeq digital wallet. In the UAE, it secured a banking license to roll out Tabby Cash, a debit card alternative that supports both local and international money transfers.
The company is also leaning on non-equity funding. In 2023, it arranged a $700 million receivables-backed facility with JPMorgan and is open to doing more as its receivables expand, according to CEO Hosam Arab. One of the region's early fintech unicorns, Tabby says it turned profitable in 2023, has 25 million registered users, and handles annualized transaction volume exceeding $18 billion.
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The bigger picture for exits and funding
Despite this headline round, startup funding in the Middle East has tightened amid the regional war, and per Magnitt, capital raised through June was off by more than one-fifth versus prior years. The conflict has also extended the slump in the Gulf's once-busy IPO market, slowing investor exits. Tabby is among the fintechs considering an IPO in Saudi Arabia, but it is in no hurry. "We are profitable and well-capitalized, so fortunately we do not need to force the timing," CEO Hosam Arab told Bloomberg News. "You want to go public when public markets are rewarding good companies appropriately and when being public genuinely helps the business."
For everyday investors, the takeaway is that strong operators can still raise at higher valuations even as exit windows stay narrow. That split can shape how and when these growth stories show up in your portfolio.
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