Key Takeaways
- • Tamara's Shariah-compliant asset-backed facility of up to $2.4 billion, anchored by Goldman Sachs, Citi and Apollo, was the largest financing announced at Money20/20 Riyadh in September 2025, refinancing and quadrupling a $500 million package arranged barely a year earlier.
- • MAGNiTT's 2025 figure of $3.8 billion across 688 deals counts equity only; including debt, MENA's true capital flow roughly doubles to about $7.5 billion, per the article's analysis.
- • Equity funding in MENA fell 22% year over year to $1.35 billion in the first half of 2026, international investors cut deployment by nearly two-thirds, and local investors supplied 81% of venture capital.
- • Lenders finance receivables, contracted revenue, inventory and equipment, so scaleups should match each funding need to the instrument that suits it rather than dilute equity to fund working capital.
- • Debt-readiness requires 12 to 18 months of clean cohort data, audited financials and unit economics that clear the cost of the facility, and debt should be raised from strength, not as a bridge.
Summary
An article by Sayed A., Chief Business Officer at Graystone Capital, published on Wamda, argues that MENA scaleups are relying too heavily on dilutive equity and should adopt a layered capital structure. The author contends that the largest cheques written to regional scaleups increasingly rent balance sheets rather than buy shares.
The article cites Tamara's Shariah-compliant asset-backed facility of up to $2.4 billion, anchored by Goldman Sachs, Citi and Apollo, announced at Money20/20 Riyadh in September 2025 as the largest financing of the event. The deal refinanced and quadrupled a $500 million package arranged roughly a year earlier. Tabby previously set a precedent with a $700 million receivables securitisation from J.P. Morgan, described as the first of its kind in the region. The author illustrates dilution costs with an example: raising $10 million at a $40 million post-money valuation sells a quarter of the company, which would cost $125 million at a $500 million exit, versus a mid-teens all-in rate on a receivables-backed loan.
According to the article, MAGNiTT's widely cited 2025 figure of $3.8 billion across 688 deals counts equity only. Including debt, the author estimates total capital flow of roughly $7.5 billion, with Tamara's facility the largest single component, suggesting non-dilutive capital matched dilutive capital almost dollar for dollar in 2025. The article reports that in the first half of 2026 equity funding fell 22% year over year to $1.35 billion, international investors cut deployment by nearly two-thirds, and local investors supplied 81% of venture capital, their highest share in five years.
The article maps instruments to needs. Businesses generating receivables, such as BNPL platforms, SME lenders and B2B marketplaces, can use receivables-backed financing; Saudi lender Lendo signed a $53 million Murabaha with Jadwa to fund SME financing, and UAE-based CredibleX secured a $100 million facility from Pollen Street Capital. Recurring-revenue businesses can use revenue-based structures, while trade- and inventory-heavy models suit invoice discounting and supply-chain finance, a market the author says is attracting regional banks and specialist funds amid an estimated $250 billion GCC SME credit gap. Equipment, fleets and infrastructure fit leasing and term debt; Bahrain's consumer lender FLOOSS funds growth through a $22 million Shorooq-backed credit facility.
On readiness, the author argues that credit investors underwrite data rather than vision, citing 12 to 18 months of clean cohort performance, receivables ageing, audited financials, functioning collections and unit economics that clear the cost of the facility. Debt is most available when not urgently needed, so facilities should be raised with a year or more of runway. The article also warns that covenants, amortisation schedules and tenor mismatches create liquidity risk, and that debt used to fund losses accelerates failure.
The author highlights Shariah-compliant structures such as Murabaha and asset-backed facilities as a route to Gulf institutional capital. Saudi Arabia's private credit market reached $3.7 billion in 2024 after growing tenfold, per the article. The author concludes that venture equity remains right for uncertain new ventures, but that companies should layer equity for bets and debt for operating machinery.
The article cites Tamara's Shariah-compliant asset-backed facility of up to $2.4 billion, anchored by Goldman Sachs, Citi and Apollo, announced at Money20/20 Riyadh in September 2025 as the largest financing of the event. The deal refinanced and quadrupled a $500 million package arranged roughly a year earlier. Tabby previously set a precedent with a $700 million receivables securitisation from J.P. Morgan, described as the first of its kind in the region. The author illustrates dilution costs with an example: raising $10 million at a $40 million post-money valuation sells a quarter of the company, which would cost $125 million at a $500 million exit, versus a mid-teens all-in rate on a receivables-backed loan.
According to the article, MAGNiTT's widely cited 2025 figure of $3.8 billion across 688 deals counts equity only. Including debt, the author estimates total capital flow of roughly $7.5 billion, with Tamara's facility the largest single component, suggesting non-dilutive capital matched dilutive capital almost dollar for dollar in 2025. The article reports that in the first half of 2026 equity funding fell 22% year over year to $1.35 billion, international investors cut deployment by nearly two-thirds, and local investors supplied 81% of venture capital, their highest share in five years.
The article maps instruments to needs. Businesses generating receivables, such as BNPL platforms, SME lenders and B2B marketplaces, can use receivables-backed financing; Saudi lender Lendo signed a $53 million Murabaha with Jadwa to fund SME financing, and UAE-based CredibleX secured a $100 million facility from Pollen Street Capital. Recurring-revenue businesses can use revenue-based structures, while trade- and inventory-heavy models suit invoice discounting and supply-chain finance, a market the author says is attracting regional banks and specialist funds amid an estimated $250 billion GCC SME credit gap. Equipment, fleets and infrastructure fit leasing and term debt; Bahrain's consumer lender FLOOSS funds growth through a $22 million Shorooq-backed credit facility.
On readiness, the author argues that credit investors underwrite data rather than vision, citing 12 to 18 months of clean cohort performance, receivables ageing, audited financials, functioning collections and unit economics that clear the cost of the facility. Debt is most available when not urgently needed, so facilities should be raised with a year or more of runway. The article also warns that covenants, amortisation schedules and tenor mismatches create liquidity risk, and that debt used to fund losses accelerates failure.
The author highlights Shariah-compliant structures such as Murabaha and asset-backed facilities as a route to Gulf institutional capital. Saudi Arabia's private credit market reached $3.7 billion in 2024 after growing tenfold, per the article. The author concludes that venture equity remains right for uncertain new ventures, but that companies should layer equity for bets and debt for operating machinery.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.