Investcorp leads $130m pre-IPO funding for Saudi startup

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Salla, a Saudi e-commerce software startup, has raised $130 million in its pre-IPO investment round, led by Bahrain’s alternative asset manager Investcorp.

Sanabil Investment, a subsidiary of Public Investment Fund and STV, a venture capital investor and an existing Salla shareholder, also participated in the transaction, Investcorp said in a statement.

Bahrain-headquartered Investcorp made the investment through its Saudi pre-IPO growth fund. As part of the deal, Robin Mansour, principal at Investcorp, will join the board of the Saudi startup.

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Salla, established in 2016 in Makkah, allows merchants to tap into a $20 billion e-commerce market expected to grow over 25 percent year on year in the coming years.

Since 2020, the company has recorded $7 billion in e-commerce sales and serves over 80,000 active merchants on the platform. 

“We see great interest in the potential of Saudi companies to IPO, especially as scale-ups and unicorns demonstrate local and regional success,” said Walid Majdalani, head of emerging markets private equity, Investcorp.

Investcorp’s fund has previously led a pre-IPO funding round in UAE’s TruKKer, followed by an investment in NourNet, a Saudi ICT company.