LEANING IN

Hisham Al-Falih, Ashu Gupta, Aditya Sarkar, and Mehdi Tazi, Cofounders of Saudi-based Lean Technologies, have created one of the region's leading third-party regulated open banking platforms with $37 million in funding. Now, they're planning another funding round and expansion across key markets.

- RAWAN HASSAN

In 2023, while overall funding for startups saw a decline in the Middle East, the fintech sector emerged as the primary recipient of investment. According to Wamda, fintech startups secured $2.3 billion last year, taking 58% of the total $4 billion pot, inclusive of debt. However, for these fintechs to further develop and operate, they need open banking services. This is where Saudi-based B2B technology company Lean Technologies comes in, helping businesses build solutions through its API suite.

Having established their startup in 2019, the founders of Lean Technologies aim for it to be not just a player in the fintech space but an enabler for the entire ecosystem. Lean handles complex infrastructure management, from data localizing to data transformation through its applications and integration layer. Today, the Saudi-headquartered company has offices in Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., and London, with over 500,000 unique customer accounts and more than 160 clients in the Middle East, including Tamara and Tabby, the two most-funded fintech startups in 2023, as well as Binance, e&, Careem, and Al-Futtaim Group.

In January 2022, Lean Technologies raised $33 million in a Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital India, bringing its total funding to $37 million. Building on its success in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., Lean is now setting its sights on more expansion in the region.

Cofounders Al-Falih and Aditya Sarkar, who both grew up in the GCC, first met in 2012 at Stanford University in Silicon Valley, where they witnessed firsthand the rise of giants like Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook. Inspired by the transformative power of technology, they envisioned a similar impact on the Middle East financial landscape. After graduating, Al-Falih ventured into venture capital while Sarkar honed his expertise in product development and technology.