Investcorp, a leading global alternative investment firm, has led a $130 million pre-IPO investment round in Salla, a leading SaaS eCommerce enablement platform in Saudi Arabia.
The investment was made alongside Sanabil Investment, a wholly owned company by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. STV, a regional venture capital investor and an existing shareholder of Salla, also participated in the transaction.
Salla was established in 2016 in Makkah to promote the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Saudi Arabia by providing SMEs and aspiring entrepreneurs with a proprietary SaaS solution to deliver on their eCommerce ambitions.
Walid Majdalani Head – Emerging Markets Private Equity Investcorp
“Saudi Arabia today has over a million SMEs, having grown three times over the past five years. We believe that the Kingdom’s transformation agenda will continue to drive innovation and empower the next generation of entrepreneurs, with Salla acting as a key enabler to support the development of new companies in the eCommerce ecosystem. We see great interest in the potential of Saudi companies to IPO, especially as scale-ups and unicorns demonstrate local and regional success. Salla has managed to grow exponentially and deliver best-in-class margins. We are excited to be part of their next growth phase and are keen to work with the founder and management team to explore a potential future listing in line with our track record.”
Nawaf Hariri, CEO and Co-Founder of Salla, said that, “We are deeply grateful for the trust and investment from Investcorp and Sanabil in Salla, which reflects their confidence in our vision and our platform’s potential. This investment propels us forward in our ongoing mission to open opportunities and empower individuals, SMEs, and enterprises to start and expand their businesses both within and beyond Saudi Arabia. We are committed to delivering innovative, customer-centric solutions that simplify and enhance the e-commerce experience for our merchants.”
Investcorp’s investment was made through Investcorp Saudi Pre-IPO Growth Fund LP, a platform targeting equity growth capital investments across a range of companies primarily based in Saudi Arabia with the potential to access the capital markets. Additionally, Robin Mansour, Principal at Investcorp will be joining the Board of Directors of Salla.
The Fund allows investors to gain exposure to growing and market-leading businesses in strategic, high-growth sectors such as business services, transport and logistics, healthcare, and consumer, as per the statement.
