FENA launches $130M fund to plug Saudi SME liquidity gap
What's the deal? FENADealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the embedded business-finance arm of Sila, has launched Fena Fund, a 500 million SAR (about $130 million) direct-lending fund to provide liquidity to small and medium enterprises in Saudi Arabia. The fund is managed by Riyadh-based alternative-asset manager Jada CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and holds a Capital Market Authority licence to offer corporate financing across the kingdom's business-to-business ecosystem.
Why now? Saudi Arabia has narrowed its SME funding gap, but a large one remains. According to Forbes Middle East, the gap stands at roughly 400 billion SAR, with SMEs accounting for 11.3% of total bank loans in 2025 against a national target of 20% by 2030.
What's the endgame? FENA aims to embed liquidity directly into daily business operations, near the points of transaction, to make capital access more efficient and scalable. The fund extends financing across procurement, supplier payments, and receivables, subject to eligibility criteria.
FENA was first built to serve merchants within the SariDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → ecosystem, where it has provided more than 2 billion SAR in trade liquidity. The new fund opens those capabilities to the wider B2B market.
Who's behind it? Sila was formed in 2025 through the merger of Sari, the leading MENA B2B commerce platform, and ShopUp, South Asia's largest B2B commerce platform. Jada Capital, which specialises in private-market investments, brings credit-management expertise to FENA's technology and data.
"Behind every business is a merchant working to buy, sell, and grow every day," said Mohammed Al-Dossary, co-founder and chief executive officer of financial services at Sila. He said the fund gives FENA the capacity to serve more businesses and "contribute to building a healthier, more productive economy."
Yousef Al-Yousfi, chief executive officer and managing partner at Jada Capital, said FENA "has built a solid platform to serve SMEs in the kingdom," adding that its financing capabilities will support that mission through "secure, compliant, and scalable" funding (translated from Arabic).
The signal: Embedded finance is emerging as a tool to close a persistent SME credit gap that traditional bank lending has struggled to bridge. By wiring liquidity into everyday commerce, FENA is betting that access — not just capital — is the harder problem to solve.
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
