Gulf buy-now-pay-later firm Tamara in $150 mln funding deal with Goldman Sachs

Gulf-based Tamara, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) company, said on Thursday it had agreed an up to $150 million funding facility with Goldman Sachs (GS.N) to help finance its growth.

The loan, known as a receivables warehouse facility, brings Tamara's total funding in equity and debt to $366 million since its launch in September 2020, it said in a statement.

In August, Tamara raised $100 million in a fundraising round that included Sanabil Investments, which is owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign Public Investment Fund.

 

The Riyadh-headquartered company has signed up six million customers since its start, it said the statement. It is among the Gulf Arab region's largest BNPL providers and its competitors include Dubai-based Tabby, which says it has three million active users.

"It is crucial for us to work with global and regional financial partners with strong balance sheets that have the capacity to provide incremental funding to support our vision," Tamara co-founder and CEO Abdulmajeed Alsukhan said in the statement.

 

He said the financing deal was "the first of its kind in the region".