The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2022–2025
Stitch's US$10M seed bet: Saudi-built banking rails, first stop Kenya
Saudi fintech Stitch, founded 2022, raised a US$10M seed to sell API banking rails in KSA and the UAE, with Kenya its first market beyond the Gulf.
Stitch
What the business is
A Saudi-headquartered fintech infrastructure company selling an API-driven platform that lets banks, fintechs and non-financial enterprises launch banking and payment products up to 80% faster.
Starting capital：US$10M seed (May 2025) from Arbor Ventures, COTU Ventures, Raed Ventures, SVC and family offices, plus angels like Marqeta founder Jason Gardner.
How it started
Mohamed Oueida founded Stitch in Saudi Arabia in 2022 after seeing Middle East enterprises struggle with legacy systems and complex regulation when building financial products. The team pulled talent from FIS, Geidea, Rain Financial, NPCI India and Al Rajhi Bank. Initial customers in Saudi and the UAE — Lulu Exchange, Alamoudi Exchange, Foodics, Dar Al Tamleek and Tanmeya Capital — used its API platform to launch banking and payments products.
What happened
In May 2025 Stitch closed a US$10M seed round with Arbor Ventures, COTU Ventures, Raed Ventures and SVC, plus family offices and veterans such as Marqeta founder Jason Gardner and Abdulmalik AlSheikh, who helped build Saudi networks mada and Sadad. The company said it had already secured clients in East Africa, starting with Kenya — its first market beyond the Gulf — and would use the funds to expand its team and platform capabilities.
How it ended up
Still live and expanding: as of June 2025 Stitch was scaling its platform across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kenya with the seed round behind it; no shutdown or pivot had been announced.
Background
Stitch was founded in Saudi Arabia in 2022 by Mohamed Oueida on the observation that Middle East institutions were forced to navigate outdated legacy systems and complex regulatory frameworks to ship financial products. The company built an API-driven platform that lets banks, fintechs and non-financial enterprises launch banking and payment products up to 80% faster, pulling talent from FIS, Geidea, Rain Financial, NPCI India and Al Rajhi Bank.
Its first customers were Gulf institutions: Lulu Exchange, Alamoudi Exchange, Foodics, Dar Al Tamleek and Tanmeya Capital, across Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The context was favorable — Saudi banking assets had grown to US$1.12 trillion, digital payments rose 75% between 2019 and 2021, and POS transactions reached US$177.69 billion in FY 2024.
In May 2025 Stitch closed a US$10M seed round from Arbor Ventures, COTU Ventures, Raed Ventures and SVC, with family offices and industry veterans including Marqeta founder Jason Gardner and mada/Sadad builder Abdulmalik AlSheikh. Crucially, it had already signed clients in East Africa, starting with Kenya — its first market beyond the Gulf.
The bet is that infrastructure built in the Middle East can compete globally: Kenyan banks and businesses can use the same platform that Gulf exchanges and F&B chains use, without a local consumer brand or local build-out. As of June 2025 Stitch was scaling with the new capital; no later outcome had been announced.
What has to be true
- Kenya, the world's mobile-money benchmark, was a deliberately chosen first export market — if the platform works there, it works anywhere.
- Stitch sells infrastructure, not consumer apps, so expansion needs no brand marketing — just a compliant API that institutions adopt.
- Backers with payment-network pedigree (mada/Sadad's AlSheikh, Marqeta's Gardner) signal that Gulf-built rails can meet global standards.
- Saudi's payments boom (75% digital-payment growth, US$1.12T bank assets) gave Stitch a home market to prove the platform before exporting.
What can be applied
Export the rails before the app: Stitch's API infrastructure travels from Saudi into Kenya without consumer brand costs, because the product is the compliance and connectivity layer, not a local app.
Aftermath
As of early June 2025, Stitch was live with clients in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kenya, had closed a US$10M seed round to expand its team and platform, and was positioning itself as a regional infrastructure partner for banks, fintechs and non-financial enterprises. No shutdown, pivot or later funding round had been announced as of that date.
Sources
- Stitch secures $10 million in funding
- Fintech Startup Stitch Closes $10M Seed Round to Modernize Banking Infrastructure in MENA
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