Riyadh-based fintech–proptech Safqah Capital has closed a $15.2 million seed round, marking one of the largest pure-equity seed financings in the Kingdom’s history and a standout deal in the region’s fast-growing fintech landscape. The round was co-led by Shorooq, anb Seed Fund, and Rua Growth Fund, with participation from Sharaka Capital, COTU Ventures, Sadu Capital, 500 Global, Suhail Ventures, MEVP, Waad Invest, JOA Capital, and others—underscoring strong investor conviction in Safqah’s role within Vision 2030’s real estate ambitions.
While Saudi Arabia’s giga-projects dominate global headlines, Safqah is focused on a foundational gap: fast, transparent access to capital for SME developers delivering much of the Kingdom’s housing and commercial supply. In just 18 months, the company has financed 70+ projects with an aggregate value exceeding $800 million nationwide. Safqah reports a zero-default track record, with loans collateralised at 248%+ and disbursed through a milestone-based framework.
“Banks were not built for developers—we were,” said Abdullah Alsubaie, Co-Founder and CEO. “We’ve engineered an ecosystem that accelerates access to capital, improves capital efficiency, and strengthens monitoring and risk controls for all stakeholders.”
Safqah offers Shariah-compliant debt financing tailored to SME developers—historically underserved by traditional banks. Authorised by the Kingdom’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) to enable investment in debt instruments, the platform helps developers move from planning to execution with speed and clarity.
Investors echo the infrastructure thesis. “Safqah isn’t another lending platform—it’s foundational infrastructure,” said Shane Shin, Founding Partner at Shorooq. “The model matches the pace of Saudi development while meeting regulatory and institutional standards.”
With Saudi Arabia’s real estate and infrastructure pipeline estimated at $1.1 trillion, access frictions—long approvals, high collateral thresholds, rigid underwriting—remain a bottleneck for SME developers. Safqah addresses this by combining real-estate underwriting, structured financing, and developer-centric software into a single digital workflow—an operating system for development that unifies funding, monitoring, documentation, and execution.
Beyond financing, Safqah is deploying data analytics and AI to enhance risk assessment, project monitoring, and transparency. Developers gain a streamlined project portal; investors access diversified, asset-backed opportunities with data-driven reporting.
The founding team blends deep domain expertise: Alsubaie (CEO), Karim Merie (CBO; former NHC), Abdulmalik Alothman (CFO; ELM IPO veteran), and Omar Alessa (CTO; Silicon Valley and London startup experience).
The new capital will fuel platform enhancements, advanced AI underwriting tools, and an expansion of financing capacity to meet surging developer demand—scaling both the size and number of funded projects as Safqah cements its role in the Kingdom’s real estate engine.
