Saudi Fintech Erad Raises $125M in Credit Facility Led by Jefferies

Riyadh-headquartered fintech startup erad has secured a $125 million credit facility led by global investment bank Jefferies, with co-investment from Channel Capital — marking Jefferies’ first major Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) asset-backed SME financing deal.

Founded in 2022, erad provides Sharia-compliant working-capital solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The firm has recently expanded its scope to manufacturing, logistics, distribution, and real-estate services, offering financing packages for ticket sizes up to SR 10 million.

With the new funding line, erad intends to accelerate embedded-finance offerings at point of sale, deepen partnerships with suppliers and B2B platforms, and expand reach across the GCC. The company reported having processed over SR 250 million for SMEs to date and achieved six-fold year-over-year growth.

According to erad co-founders, the facility will enable seamless access to working capital via existing supply-chain networks — effectively making financing as simple as a payment transaction. This model aims to address a financing gap that often hampers SME growth in the region.

"We are proud to work with erad and the Channel team on one of our first asset-backed financing solutions in the GCC, and our partnership with erad represents a significant step forward in creating seamless access to capital for GCC SMEs, which we think erad are uniquely well positioned to provide.," Mark Collier, Managing Director at Jefferies, said. "The combination of erad's proprietary technology platform with our global experience in asset-backed financing solutions will enable erad to address the real-time working capital needs of SMEs across the region."

The deal follows a $16 million pre-Series A round erad closed earlier this year, backed by prominent investors including Y Combinator, Nuwa Capital, Khwarizmi Ventures and others — reflecting growing investor confidence in fintech-driven SME financing solutions.