KSA-Based Stitch Wraps Up US$10 Million Seed Round

Saudi Arabia-based fintech infrastructure platform Stitch, which aims to address the fragmentation of financial technology (fintech) systems, has closed a US$10 million seed round to power its expansion. 

The round was backed by Singapore-based venture capital (VC) firm Arbor Ventures, Dubai-based VC firm COTU Ventures, Riyadh-based early-stage VC firm Raed Ventures, the government-backed investment firm Saudi Venture Capital (SVC), as well as notable industry figures like California-based fintech firm Marqeta founder Jason Gardner and veteran payments architect Abdulmalik AlSheikh. 

In an interview with Inc. Arabia, Mohamed Oueida, who established the startup in Saudi Arabia in 2022 and also serves as its CEO, told us that he sees the investment not just as fuel for product development and hiring, but also as a step toward the company's global expansion.  

Already operating in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Stitch, which provides a unified application programming interface (API)-driven platform that enables banks, fintechs, and enterprises to deploy modern financial solutions up to 80 percent faster than legacy systems, has already begun expanding its footprint into East Africa. “Over the next 12–18 months, customer acquisition will be one of our major priorities,” Oueida told us. “We have already attracted some of the region’s leading brands, including Lulu Exchange, Alamoudi Exchange, Foodics, Dar Al Tamleek, Raya Financing, and Tanmeya Capital, and others.” 

To support this growth trajectory, Oueida said that the company is investing in attracting top-notch talent with the aim of bolstering its technical foundation. “As a unified platform that helps financial institutions to build, launch, and scale technology products, it’s imperative that we double down on the engineering front,” he said. “We’ve attracted some very high-quality talent who are building complex products in the region, something that’s not been done before.” 

Oueida also noted that the push for speed and scale comes as financial institutions face mounting complexity in delivering modern digital services. “The digitization of the financial services sector has also led to the rise of a number of complexities, from security and compliance requirements, to delivering a world-class user experience,” he explained. “Typically, clients have had to work with multiple vendors through every step of the user journey. At Stitch, we are changing this with a unified approach.” 

That unification, he said, is just as relevant outside the GCC as it is within. Stitch recently secured its first clients in Kenya as part of its expansion into East Africa, and it is now testing its thesis in a region that’s long been a global reference point for mobile-first finance. “In Africa, digital and mobile payments have been far more advanced when compared with the GCC," Oueida said. "However, like in the GCC, legacy financial institutions haven’t kept up. This means that finance sector leaders need partners who can build with scale, without the need to deal with multiple vendors.” 

But Stitch isn’t just expanding—it's also planting roots in the markets it enters. “Having a regional presence also means that clients are able to work directly with us on the ground, and not remotely or through third-party teams,” he said. As such, the expansion into East Africa is just the beginning of the company's global ambitions. “The opportunity for Stitch is not regional but global," Oueida said. "East Africa is one small step in our larger vision to serve the globe with a unified and scalable system that helps companies build financial solutions efficiently. Financial institutions across the world struggle with the same problems, and no market or region is immune to this.” 

One of the company’s advantages, Oueida explained, is having strong roots in an advanced market like the GCC, which has allowed the team to grow and learn. “The GCC is actually one of the most advanced markets and an excellent market to build and learn when it comes to financial services,” Oueida said. “Having contributed to raising existing benchmarks, we believe we have something very unique to offer the rest of the world, that is proudly made in Saudi.” 

As financial infrastructure becomes more fragmented around the globe, Stitch aims to become the default solution for companies seeking clarity and speed. “Our software technology offers the simplest way for enterprises to build financial products, including deposits, loans, cards, transactions, risk management, and end-to-end applications,” Oueida said. 

But beyond product and market strategy, Oueida believes the most important asset in financial infrastructure is trust. “In the financial services sector, trust is paramount, for every stakeholder—brands, consumers, vendors,” he said. “Your product matters, your distribution is key, but all is useless without trust.” 

He also emphasized that, while building good products is key to success, founders also need to keep an eye on the less glamorous aspects of building fintechs by building a strong foundation of trust. “Regulators need to trust that you’re compliant, customers need to trust that you’re stable, and end users need to trust that their finances are safe in the hands of your systems," he pointed out. "That means over-investing in the not-so-glamorous parts: audits, controls, governance, risk, compliance.” 

Pictured in the lead image is Stitch founder and CEO Mohamed Oueida. Image courtesy Stitch.