Riyadh, Saudi Arabia\u00a0–\u00a0Stream, the Saudi-born platform streamlining modern billing and payments for businesses in the MENA region; starting with Saudi Arabia, has announced a $4M seed funding to scale its mission to remove friction from getting paid. The round was led by early-stage investment firm\u00a0Outliers VC\u00a0and amassed a strong investor base, adding to a cap table that includes\u00a0BYLD Ventures\u00a0and prominent angel investors such as Abdullah Elyas, Co-founder of Careem.<\/p>\n
With this round, Stream will fuel its product development in engineering, compliance, payment capabilities and overall user experience; while strengthening its internal systems to support a rapidly growing subscriber base.<\/p>\n
Founded in 2024 by\u00a0Ibrahim Aldlaigan,\u00a0Stream redefines how businesses across several sectors in MENA bill and collect payments from customers. The platform manages and automates the entire payment lifecycle from issuing branded app-free invoices to scheduling payments with flexible options, collection through local rails, cash flow visibility, reconciliation and record keeping.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having built a firm foundation with businesses specialising first in early childhood education, Stream has since scaled into school networks, SaaS, and other verticals. Since launch, the company has surged with 40% month-on-month growth, powering millions in payments for thousands of customers across dozens of merchants; a testament to the Stream\u2019s product and depth of the market.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking on the round,\u00a0Ibrahim Aldlagan,\u00a0Founder & CEO of Stream, said, \u201cMost of the world\u2019s innovation in payments has focused on how people spend. We\u2019re focused on how businesses get paid. This round helps us build the tools and infrastructure that make that as easy in MENA as it is anywhere else.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He continues, \u201cMost businesses in Saudi Arabia and the region still collect everything upfront because they lack the systems to bill over time. Stream gives them structure and control; a business defines how and when payments happen \u2013 one-time, recurring or in parts \u2013 and we handle the rest. It\u2019s about making payments predictable, flexible, and connected to the real flow of services.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Saudi Central Bank Report on Payments Usage Study\u202f2023, the total value of payment transactions in Saudi Arabia reached approximately USD 4.8 trillion in 2023, with roughly 70% of retail transactions now happening digitally. Yet only around 7% of consumer transactions are reported to be recurring payments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the majority of payments have moved online, recurring payments such as tuition fees, rent, and subscriptions still run through manual or semi-manual processes. This is the extensive gap that Stream is focused on solving.<\/p>\n
Sarah AlSaleh, General Partner at Outliers VC, stated, \u201cStream is built on deep local insight and a clear understanding of how businesses actually operate. Ibrahim brings the rare combination of investor perspective and relentless product execution, which is already reflected in how fast the platform is evolving. Stream is laying the foundation for the next generation of payment infrastructure in the region. We\u2019re proud to back him and the Stream team, and partner on the journey to streamline payments\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Youcef Oudjidane,\u00a0Founder of BYLD, shared, \u201cIn a short period of time, Ibrahim has built a culture of intensity and technical excellence that attracts top talent and drives the company\u2019s mission to streamline payments and remove friction across MENA. It wouldn\u2019t surprise me if we\u2019re talking about the \u2018Stream mafia\u2019 in the years to come\u201d.<\/p>\n
For additional information or interview requests please contact\u00a0streampay@wimbart.com\u00a0or\u00a0media@streampay.sa<\/p>\n
About Stream<\/p>\n
Stream\u00a0is a Saudi-built platform powering modern billing for businesses. From schools and gyms to SaaS and freelancers, Stream helps businesses collect faster with branded, flexible payment flows with no apps or friction. Based in Riyadh, Stream is on a mission to simplify how the region gets paid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
About Outliers VC<\/p>\n
Outliers\u00a0is an early-stage investment firm backing outlier founders in MENA. We are an operator-led firm, partnering with the entrepreneurs shaping the region\u2019s tech and business landscape. We work with founders who build different, uncovering category-defining opportunities that create outsized outcomes.<\/p>\n
About BYLD VC<\/p>\n
BYLD\u00a0is an institutional venture capital firm focused on early stage technology investments across the Middle East and Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Riyadh, Saudi Arabia\u00a0–\u00a0Stream, the Saudi-born platform streamlining modern billing and payments for businesses in the MENA region; starting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,63,99,198,5474],"class_list":{"0":"post-273328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-entrepreneurship","12":"tag-investment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}