Saudi SME lending startup Abwab.ai raises $4M led by Speedinvest and MEVP

Riyadh-based fintech Abwab.ai has raised $4 million in a seed round led by Speedinvest and Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), the company announced this week at the LEAP conference in Riyadh. The startup, founded in 2023 by Baraa Koshak and Mohammad Hashem, builds AI-powered credit infrastructure for banks and other lenders and says its platform is already in use by more than 13 financial institutions and has processed over SAR 1 billion in SME loans.

"Its technology is used by more than 13 financial institutions and has processed over SAR 1 billion in SME loans," the company said in materials shared at LEAP.

How Abwab.ai works

Abwab.ai positions itself as a credit infrastructure provider rather than a direct lender. The platform aggregates and analyses multiple data signals — including bank statements, VAT records, financial statements and credit bureau data — to support originating and underwriting loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). That data-driven approach is intended to reduce the manual work that typically slows credit teams and raises the cost of processing smaller SME loans.

The startup offers modules spanning credit decisioning, digital loan origination and portfolio monitoring. It also supports embedded financing, enabling lenders to distribute pre-qualified credit through payroll, e-commerce and point-of-sale platforms. Abwab lists customers and partners on its website including Saudi SME Bank, Abdul Latif Jameel Finance, Lendo, Hala Financing, Kafalah and Raqamyah.

Founders, investors and governance

Abwab was founded by Koshak — who previously worked on credit and data products at Revolut, Hala and Mozn and held an earlier role at McKinsey — and Hashem, who brings over a decade of banking and financial services experience including time at Oliver Wyman. Speedinvest lists Abwab as a portfolio company from 2025 and notes that Speedinvest general partner Stefan Klestil now sits on Abwab's board following the firm’s lead on the seed round. MEVP is listed as an investor from its fourth regional fund, which targets fintech and AI across MENATP.

Speedinvest has been expanding its presence in the Middle East and Africa, having launched a dedicated regional fund earlier in the year backed by institutional limited partners, while MEVP continues to deploy capital through its regional vehicle focused on technology sectors.

Context and outlook

• Saudi SME lending grew to SAR 489.2 billion in Q1 2026, up 28% year-on-year per Saudi Central Bank data — a backdrop that increases demand for scalable underwriting infrastructure.
• Abwab’s model aims to address operational constraints as lenders expand SME portfolios, particularly by automating checks that are often manual regardless of loan size.
• The $4 million seed round — which appears to have closed prior to the public announcement at LEAP — gives Abwab runway to expand integrations with banks and embedded partners and to further develop its AI credit decisioning stack.

With an investor base that includes Speedinvest and MEVP and a board seat held by a Speedinvest general partner, Abwab is positioned to deepen commercial ties across Saudi lenders and to scale its underwriting automation as SME lending volumes continue to rise across the Kingdom.