The Moghamra Podcast · Ep 12 · 1 Jan 2024
When Product-Market Fits
عندما يتحقق التوافق بين المنتج والسوق
Mohamed Jawabri — Co-Founder & COO, Lendo · Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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Key takeaways
Solve a real financing gap
SMEs across the region struggle to access fast, fair working capital — Lendo's fit came from attacking a need that traditional banks underserve.
Compliance as a feature
Shariah-compliant structuring isn't a limitation; for Lendo's market it's a core part of the product's trust and addressable demand.
Two-sided marketplaces are an operating challenge
Balancing borrowers who need speed with investors who need confidence means underwriting, risk and servicing have to run flawlessly underneath the platform.
Institutional backing validates the thesis
A $28M Series B led by Sanabil signals that SME financing is a priority for the Kingdom — and gives Lendo room to scale responsibly.
About this episode
Lendo is a Saudi fintech tackling one of the region's most stubborn gaps: access to working capital for small and medium businesses. As a Shariah-compliant debt-crowdfunding marketplace, it connects SMEs that need short-term financing with investors looking to fund them — all within the bounds of Islamic finance.
Co-founder and COO Mohamed Jawabri uses this conversation to unpack what genuine product-market fit feels like from the inside: the signals that told the team they'd hit a real need, and how a regulated, trust-dependent financial product scales once it does. Lendo closed a $28M Series B led by Sanabil Investments — a marker of how seriously the Kingdom's institutions take the SME-financing opportunity.
The discussion covers the mechanics of building a two-sided financial marketplace, the role of regulation and Shariah compliance as a feature rather than a constraint, and what it takes operationally to underwrite, fund and service loans at speed without compromising on risk.
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