Problem

Small and medium-sized businesses across Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC often cannot obtain working capital quickly enough to fund inventory, supplier purchases, operations, or growth. Erad positions this as a structural financing problem: regional SMEs account for roughly half of GDP and two-thirds of employment but face an estimated $250 billion financing gap, while traditional funding channels impose barriers that are especially painful for fast-growing e-commerce, retail, and services businesses.

The killer use case is a growing SME that has real revenue but needs immediate cash to meet customer demand or buy from suppliers. More than 60% of Erad’s customers are reported to be first-time credit takers, and its customer base spans retail, food and beverage, e-commerce, healthcare, and other sectors. This suggests Erad is primarily solving access and speed problems for underserved, data-rich businesses rather than providing generic corporate lending.

Product / Service

Erad is a Shariah-compliant alternative-financing platform offering revenue-based financing, invoice financing, and working-capital facilities. Businesses apply online, connect their accounting, sales, payments, marketing, and banking data, and receive an offer through a data-driven underwriting process; the company says its AI-powered system and credit team can complete the assessment and deliver funds in as little as 48 hours. Its reported funding range is approximately $40,000 to $2.7 million.

The original model provides non-dilutive capital and automates repayment through the customer’s online payments, while its newer embedded-finance model places working-capital offers directly into supplier networks and B2B platforms at the point of transaction. The benefit is faster, more flexible access to capital without requiring an SME to navigate a lengthy conventional loan process, with financing integrated into the commercial workflow where the need arises.

Market

Erad competes in fintech and alternative SME finance, particularly Shariah-compliant working-capital lending and embedded finance across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the broader GCC. A close Saudi comparator is Lendo, which likewise advertises online SME financing decisions within 48 hours and Shariah-compliant funding; Erad’s differentiation is its combination of proprietary data underwriting, revenue-linked and other financing products, and distribution through suppliers and business platforms. Traditional banks and other SME-financing fintechs remain broader alternatives.

Erad is well beyond pre-revenue: it was founded in 2022, raised a $2.4 million pre-seed round and a $16 million pre-Series A, and later secured debt and asset-backed facilities including a $33 million debt round and a $125 million scalable facility led by Jefferies with Channel Capital. By late 2025, the company reported sixfold year-over-year growth, more than $700 million in funding requests, and over SAR 250 million processed for regional SMEs; it also reported customers including Citron, Wixsana, House of Pops, Joi Gifts, eZhire, Udrive, and Makan.