THE MIDDLE EAST’S

13. HALA

Description: Financial solutions for SMEs and entrepreneurs
Headquarters: Saudi Arabia
Date of Establishment: 2018
Founders: Maher Loubieh, Esam Alnahdi

Having started as a consumer wallet (Halalah), HALA shifted its focus to B2B in 2020. It currently offers financial solutions to SMEs, including bank accounts and IBAN, e-wallet apps, POS devices, and cards. The company serves 80,000 active users across Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. Merchants and businesses using the platform executed transactions worth $4 billion in 2023. Following its acquisition of paymennt.com in 2023, HALA introduced HALA Pro, a POS cashier product, along with a corporate expense product. It also obtained in-principal approval from SAMA for a crowd-lending license. HALA plans to launch a product specifically designed for freelancers and launch SME lending in 2024.