Foodics takes largest-investor stake in Funding Souq for embedded lending

RIYADH — Foodics has made a strategic investment in Funding Souq, becoming the largest investor in the Shariah-compliant SME crowdfunding platform. The amount was not disclosed.

The deal pairs Foodics' restaurant merchant network with Funding Souq's lending rails to deliver embedded financing in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, using merchant sales data for credit assessment. The two companies say the arrangement produced Saudi Arabia's first fully automated business loan, and it sits alongside Foodics' Capital 2.0 programme, which targets $100 million of financing deployment in its first year.

Funding Souq, founded by chief executive Martin Jaouni, is regulated by both SAMA and the DFSA and counts more than 10,000 investors on its platform. It is targeting $1 billion in SME financing over three years.

Embedded lending is becoming the default distribution for SME credit in the Gulf, where point-of-sale data gives software vendors an underwriting edge over banks. A strategic stake lets the lender lock in that distribution without building the merchant base itself.

Watch for the first lending volumes out of the Foodics merchant network and whether Funding Souq raises a priced round to fund its $1 billion target. Zawya first reported the investment.