Tabby's $6.5bn Series F lets the Gulf's top fintech keep its IPO waiting
A $233m private round led by Blue Pool Capital lifts the Saudi payments and credit group's value by 44% and gives it room to choose when, and where, to list.
Tabby, the Riyadh-based payments and consumer credit company best known for its buy now, pay later button, said on Monday, September 14, that it had raised $233m in a Series F equity round at a valuation of $6.5bn. The round was led by Blue Pool Capital, the Hong Kong investment firm that manages assets for Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai and an existing shareholder, with participation from HSG, Wellington Management and Arbor Ventures. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals, including from the Saudi Central Bank.
The new price is about 44% above the $4.5bn valuation set in a secondary share sale in October 2025, and nearly double the $3.3bn attached to Tabby's $160m Series E in February 2025. For a company that has spent roughly three years preparing for a stock market listing, the more telling fact is that it has once again chosen private money over public markets. That choice says as much about the state of fintech exits as it does about Tabby.
A growth story with a profit line
Tabby was founded in 2019 by Hosam Arab and Daniil Barkalov and moved its headquarters from the United Arab Emirates to Riyadh in 2023. It says it has been profitable since that year. The company now reports more than $18bn in annualised transaction volume, 25m registered users and about 70,000 business partners, including Amazon and Shein. At the time of the Series E, the comparable figures were more than $10bn in volume, over 15m users and more than 40,000 sellers.
Those numbers describe a business that has grown quickly without the loss-making profile that defined many consumer fintechs in the last cycle. The detail behind them is less uniform. According to figures cited by Dealroom, Tabby's Saudi subsidiary reported revenue of about $378m and net profit of $55m in 2025, increases of 42% and 82% respectively. In the second quarter of this year, however, the subsidiary's revenue rose 21% year on year while its net profit fell 54%, as higher operating spending in Saudi Arabia and provisions for credit losses weighed on earnings.
That shift is the cost of the strategy Tabby is now pursuing. Moving from short instalment plans into larger loans and everyday accounts means carrying more credit risk and spending more to acquire and serve customers. Investors at $6.5bn are paying for the bigger franchise, not for the margins of the original product.
Beyond the checkout button
The licence list explains the ambition. This year Tabby obtained consumer finance and SME finance licences from the Saudi Central Bank, which allow larger and longer consumer loans and working capital facilities for businesses. In 2024 it acquired Tweeq, a digital wallet licensed by the Saudi regulator. In the UAE, a Stored Value Facilities licence from the central bank lets it run Tabby Cash, a spending account with a card, cash back and local and international transfers that the company pitches as an alternative to a debit account.
Arab described the company's origins modestly: "We began with a button at an online checkout to help people spread costs over time." The new capital is meant to take it a long way from that button. He said the proceeds "are primarily about giving us the capital to go deeper in our two core markets", Saudi Arabia and the UAE, rather than to fund entry into new countries.
The focus is sensible. Saudi Arabia is where Tabby is headquartered and where its regulator has shown, through this year's licences, a willingness to let a non-bank lender widen its product range, while the UAE gives Tabby a second market with a different consumer base. Concentrating capital where it already holds licences and merchant relationships reduces execution risk, though it also ties the company's fortunes more closely to the credit cycle in two economies.
Liquidity without a listing
Part of the round funds share sales by employees. Tabby says its tender programmes since 2023 have facilitated more than $100m in share sales. That matters for retention: staff who joined when the company was worth a fraction of today's price can realise some of their gains without waiting for an IPO.
It also removes one of the pressures that usually pushes late-stage companies towards the public markets. Tabby has been linked to a Saudi listing since 2024, when HSBC, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were reported to have been hired as advisers. On Monday, Arab sounded in no hurry. "We are profitable and well capitalized, so fortunately we do not need to force the timing," he said, adding: "If and when we list, we'll choose the market that makes the most sense."
The phrase "if and when" is worth noting. A company that had long been expected to choose Riyadh is now openly keeping its options on venue as well as timing. For the Saudi exchange, which has positioned itself as a home for regional technology champions, that is a reminder that the best-known candidates can still afford to wait.
What the price says about the market
A 44% step-up in less than a year, led by an existing investor, is a vote of confidence from people who know the company well. It is also a private price, set by a small group of investors and subject to regulatory sign-off, and it has not yet been tested by public market investors who will compare Tabby with listed payments and lending companies elsewhere. Insider-led rounds tend to reward continuity; a public offering would expose the credit book, provisioning and the slowdown in subsidiary profit to wider scrutiny.
For the region's start-up ecosystem the round is nonetheless significant. It shows that a Gulf fintech can raise late-stage capital from international investors at a valuation that would rank it among the larger consumer fintechs anywhere, without needing a listing to do so.
Our view
Tabby has used the private market well: it has raised growth capital, given employees liquidity and kept control over the timing of its listing, all on the back of a business that reports a profit. That is the template many late-stage founders now aspire to, and it works best for companies that genuinely do not need the money. The harder test is still ahead. As Tabby moves from instalment payments into larger loans and accounts, its earnings will depend more on credit quality and less on merchant fees, and the second-quarter fall in its Saudi subsidiary's profit shows how quickly that can bite. Investors at $6.5bn are betting that the company becomes a consumer bank in all but name. Watch the Saudi Central Bank's approval of the round, the trend in credit-loss provisions, and whether "if and when" turns into a named exchange. Until then, Tabby's patience is a strength, but it also postpones the moment when the market sets its own price.
Sources
- Wamda: Tabby hits $6.5 billion valuation with $233 million Series F
- Dealroom: Tabby raises $230M at $6.5B valuation as it pushes past BNPL
- Enterprise: Tabby hits USD 6.5 bn valuation on Series F round
- The Paypers: Tabby raises USD 233 million, reaching USD 6.5 billion valuation
- Enterprise: Tabby raises USD 160 mn in Series E round, valuation doubles to USD 3.3 bn
Filed under Fintech. Written by InvestTimes Editorial under our editorial standards. Commentary and analysis for information only, not investment advice.
