Here’s Tameed! A Saudi-based fintech that offers shariah-compliant financing to SMEs for government contract purchase ordering in KSA.

Did we mention they just raised $15 million in their Series A funding round?

• Founded in 2019 by Mohammed Alomayyer and Mohammed Al Alshaikh, the debt based crowd-lending platform received its operating license from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) in January 2023, having previously operated within its Fintech SandBox.

• It’s the 2nd Saudi-based debt crowdfunding marketplace to raise a fresh funding round in the past number of weeks, with Lendo securing a $28 million in a Series B funding round in mid-December.

💰 Investor lowdown: The funding round was led by Alromaih Investments.

⚙️ Break it down

A business with a purchase order (PO) from a government agency or large private company can apply for financing through Tameed’s website or mobile app and receive a financing quote in just 5 minutes.

Businesses upload their POs to the Tameed platform, which quickly generates a financing quote.

The POs are then financed by investors on the platform and the supplier will receive the loan amount in 3-5 business days.

When the payment is due, the government entity pays into an escrow account, and Tameed settles the accounts between the business and the financiers.

🤑 How much does it cost?

The cost structure consists of a 2.5% administrative fee and a variable monthly profit rate of 1 to 2%. Financing periods range from 3 to 12 months.

🧲 What’s the draw for investors?

Tameed's platform offers investors the opportunity to earn average net annualised returns ranging from 15% to 20%.

The safety of these investments is generally high, given that the financed purchase orders are predominantly from government entities.

Investors also have the option to automate investments, receiving notifications for new opportunities and a 48-hour period to opt out if desired.

🔢 Crunching the numbers

Since its launch, Tameed has facilitated over $107 million in financing through its web platform and mobile apps. Additionally, since its introduction in September, the Tameed app has amassed over 50,000 downloads.

🔮 Flashforward

Tameed will use the fresh funding to support the growth of its business and to meet the increasing demand for its innovative digital lending products in Saudi Arabia.

Say hello to The Middle Frame! A Palestinian-founded media-tech start-up offering advertising agencies, news outlets and AI companies on-demand photo coverage and access to a library of authentic Arab images from across the MENA region on everything from news to entertainment and sports events.

Back in November 2023 they raised over $100K from Flat6Labs Amman as part of Cycle 5 of Amman Seed Program!

• Founded in 2022 by Mohammad Alnobani and Raya Fatayer, the start-up currently works with news agencies throughout the MENA region, and also recently signed with Picture Alliance, a media agency based in Germany.

📸 Lack of authentic imagery

The Middle Frame is tackling the notable shortage of culturally and regionally appropriate Arabic images for commercial and editorial use.

This is a problem that has become particularly apparent with the recent surge in AI and image generation technologies, as international image generators consistently fail to accurately represent Arab images, owing primarily to insufficient training data.

To address this issue, the company is actively sourcing content from photojournalists throughout the Arab region.

⚙️ Break it down

All contributors are welcome on the platform (i.e. you don’t have to be from the region).

The bottom line? Images strictly need to show either locations from around the Arab world and MENA, or include Arab models.

Photographers interested in contributing can easily register on the homepage, complete their profile and payment details, and adhere to the upload guidelines. They receive a 40% commission on each image sold, with monthly earnings displayed on their dashboard and payments processed within 30 days.

Currently, the start-up collaborates with photojournalists from Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

🤖 What about AI?

Whilst The Middle Frame has partnered with an AI company in the US to provide them with images, and produce data sets, founder Mohamed Alnobani has acknowledged that the platform still needs to collect more data from the region to create a more accurate representation of the Arab world.

The focus for the moment is editorial, but watch this space 👀

🔮 Flashforward

The Middle Frame is aiming to reach 3,500 photographers from 12 different countries in the MENA region, and is preparing to launch a new product by Q1 2024 to facilitate image requests between news agencies and photographers.

1. 🌍 Start-ups in the MENA region secured $2.2 billion through 488 deals in 2023, a decrease from the $3.45 billion raised in 2022 across 786 deals. This represents a 36% decline in deal value and a 38% reduction in the number of transactions. More here →

2. 🇦🇪 UAE-based crypto mining and blockchain company Phoenix Group PLC has acquired a 25% stake in the social networking and content monetisation platform Lyvely.

3. 🇱🇧 Lebanon-founded and Netherlands-based travel app Jedo has acquired the Saudi app Jump-in for an undisclosed amount, aiming to expand its presence in the Saudi market.

4. 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia’s BIM Ventures has announced the inauguration of the Riyadh-headquartered private aviation chartering platform, SKYNA.

• Gaming history. A 13-year-old is the first human to beat Tetris

• There’s a new sheriff. China’s BYD is selling more electric cars than Tesla

• Sign of the times. AI-created “virtual influencers” are stealing business from humans

• Throwback. Clicks is a BlackBerry-style iPhone keyboard case designed for creators

• Back in action. OpenAI’s app store for GPTs will launch next week

👋 Message from the team

Thanks for reading! Have a terrific weekend and we’ll see you all again next Friday.

Are there any start-ups you think we need to cover in our upcoming EdTech series that will be going live at the end of the month?

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