Riyadh-based financial technology (fintech) startup Lean, has raised a $3.5 million in a seed funding round led by RAED Venture, with participation from Shorooq Partners, Outliers VC, Rocket Internet’s Global Founders Capital and Global Ventures along with other angel investors.

Founded in 2019 by Hisham Al-Falih, Aditya Sarkar and Ashu Gupta, Lean operates as a B2B platform that enables fintech companies and other financial institutions to securely access customer financial data and payment initiation capabilities using programming interface (API) integration, ultimately helping them develop a full-fledged open banking system.

“As fintech adoption has grown in the Middle East so have the needs of financial institutions who must now manage unprecedented customer connections across a multitude of fintech apps. Lean gives institutions an open finance platform that includes everything they need to manage the data connectivity customers demand,” said Al-Falih, co-founder and CEO at Lean.

The company intends to use the funds to attract global talent, with plans to expand to the UAE, Egypt and Kuwait. It further announced that it is currently in the process of integrating with several banks in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

“Financial inclusion is a great mission that needs the right infrastructure to thrive. Hisham, Aditya, and Ashu built Lean Technologies to ensure that FinTech innovators have a seamless platform to build the greatest products for their communities in the Middle East. The founders are determined and definitely capable to achieve this mission,” said Omar A. Almajdouie, founding partner at Raed Ventures.