Financing from multiple investors without giving up ownership
Debt crowdfunding lets businesses raise financing from multiple individual investors via CMA-licensed platforms. Each investor contributes a portion; the business repays all at a pre-agreed profit rate. Faster than banks, more flexible, and no equity dilution.
7,500,000
SAR max
3 to 36 months
Tenor
48 hours to 2 weeks
Speed
10-18% APR + platform fees 1-3%
Cost
Apply via a platform (Lendo, Raqamyah, Forus) with your business documents
Platform assesses risk and sets financing terms (amount, tenor, rate)
A funding campaign opens on the platform for a defined period (usually 2-4 weeks)
Individual investors contribute small amounts (from SAR 1,000) until fully funded
Financing disburses to the business; repayments go to the platform which distributes to investors
A sample. Diro instantly matches you with lenders suited to your business profile.
Maximum amount
7,500,000 SAR
Tenor
3 to 36 months
Cost structure
10-18% APR + platform fees 1-3%
Funding speed
48 hours to 2 weeks
Debt crowdfunding — CMA-regulated platforms connecting companies needing financing with retail investors. The platform aggregates funding from hundreds of investors to fund a single loan to the company. This model serves mid-sized businesses that don't qualify for traditional bank financing or find its terms restrictive. The Saudi market has been growing rapidly in this segment since 2018.
Licensed platforms: Lendo — the largest and most specialized in SME financing, lending SAR 50K-2M. Raqamyah — specialized in short-term loans to businesses. Forus — mid-term financing. Tameed — invoice financing plus some lending. Funding Souq — international financing through a Saudi platform. All platforms are CMA-licensed and supervised.
Key notes: when applying for crowdfunding, choose the platform whose product matches your need. Lendo is best for sales-based (POS) loans. Tameed is best for invoice financing. Raqamyah is best for short-term working capital. Approval is faster than banks (3-10 business days) but rates are higher (12-22% APR). Terms are more flexible on collateral and business age. The Kafalah government guarantee is available for some loans through crowdfunding platforms. As an investor, debt crowdfunding offers 8-15% annual returns but with default risk of 2-8% depending on the platform. The 2024 expansion of CMA's crowdfunding sandbox license has enabled new product types — including supply-chain finance and reverse-factoring — that several platforms have launched.
Yes. All Saudi debt crowdfunding platforms (Lendo, Raqamyah, Forus, Funding Souq, Tameed) are CMA-licensed and operate under strong oversight. This protects both borrowers and investors.
Usually yes — rates are 2-5% higher than banks. Trade-off: faster access (48 hours vs 3-6 weeks) and greater flexibility on criteria. Suitable for companies unable to wait or not meeting traditional bank criteria.
Up to SAR 7.5M per funding round. Multiple rounds possible over time. Some larger businesses have raised over SAR 30M cumulatively through successive Lendo rounds.
Licensed providers
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