Makkah-headquartered ecommerce enablement platform Salla has raised $130 million in a pre-IPO round led by Investcorp, a Bahrain-based global investment firm, and Saudi Public Investment Fund’s subsidiary Sanabil Investments. The round was also joined by existing investor STV.
Founded in 2016 by Nawaf Hariri and Salman Butt, Salla is a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) startup that enables anyone to set up an ecommerce website or an online store. The startup that has emerged as the Shopify for the Middle East & North Africa also offers online payments and an app store with more than 400 apps, to its merchants.
Salla was among the first ecommerce enablement platforms to emerge from the Middle East & North Africa. It serves over 80 thousand active merchants and has helped them generate over $7 billion in GMV since 2020, it claimed in a statement.
The Saudi startup uses a freemium model, offering a basic version of its product for free, while premium versions are priced between $26 and $80.
Nawaf Hariri, co-founder and CEO of Salla, commenting on the investment, said, “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,” he added.
Walid Majdalani, the Head of Emerging Markets Private Equity for Investcorp said, “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 e-commerce 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,” he added.
Salla previously raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from Saudi’s Vision Ventures and Raed Ventures in 2018 and $8.5 million in a Series A led by STV in late 2020.
The ecommerce startup plans to use the investment to fuel its growth before its likely public markets debut. Salla’s main local competitor is Zid, which raised $50 million in a Series B round in October 2022.
