Investcorp has led a $130 million pre-IPO investment round in Salla, an e-commerce enablement platform in Saudi Arabia.
In a news release, the investment firm said it made the investment alongside Sanabil Investment, a wholly owned company by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Founded by Nawaf Hariri and Salman Butt, Salla offers merchants a fully-digitalised and automated means of building an e-commerce website. This includes being able to start selling their products online, accept online payments, and ship their products to the end user.
As well as being fully integrated with online payment solutions and logistics companies, Salla has a wide range of applications designed to support merchants throughout the lifecycle of running an online business.
Investcorp’s investment was made through Investcorp Saudi Pre-IPO Growth Fund LP, a platform targeting equity growth capital investments across a range of companies primarily based in Saudi Arabia.
Investcorp Head of Emerging Markets Private Equity, Walid Majdalani, 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.”
Nawaf Hariri, CEO and Co-Founder of Salla, added, “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.”
STV, a regional venture capital investor and an existing shareholder of Salla, also participated in the transaction. Investcorp, through Investcorp Saudi Pre-IPO Growth Fund LP, previously led a pre-IPO funding round in TruKKer, a leading MENA digital freight network, with over 45,000 trucks inducted on its platform.
