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Mustafa Eid, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – February 4th, 2026
SC Ventures, the innovation, venture-building, and investment arm of Standard Chartered Bank, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sanabil Studio to establish a strategic partnership focused on building and scaling high-impact, SME-focused fintech ventures in Saudi Arabia.
The partnership aims to establish a collaborative framework, bringing together Sanabil Studio’s venture-building expertise in Saudi Arabia with SC Ventures’ international perspective, to support the growth of innovative financial-services solutions addressing the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises, in line with the Kingdom’s economic transformation agenda and Vision 2030.
Under the MoU, SC Ventures and Sanabil Studio will jointly identify, incubate, and co-invest in fintech ventures, combining complementary global and local perspectives.
Accelerating SME-Focused Fintech Innovation
The collaboration will prioritize ventures that address key challenges faced by SMEs in Saudi Arabia, including:
Access to finance and working-capital solutions Payments, embedded finance, and SME-banking infrastructure Financial-technology solutions that enhance SME productivity, growth, and scalability
Key areas of collaboration include:
Venture Creation: Combining deep local market insight with global fintech expertise to identify high-impact opportunity spaces and design scalable fintech ventures.
Global Scale by Design: Validating ventures from inception with business models, technology, and operating frameworks built for regional and international expansion.
Execution-Led Co-Investment: Exploring co-investment in rigorously validated ventures, ensuring strong alignment between strategic intent, capital deployment, and execution excellence.
Ecosystem-Led and Vision 2030-Aligned
As part of the MoU, both parties will work closely with regulators, government entities, and ecosystem partners to foster responsible innovation, support pilot initiatives, and contribute to the development of a sustainable SME-focused fintech ecosystem in the Kingdom.
Leadership Commentary
“Saudi Arabia represents a strategic growth market for SME-focused financial innovation,” said Gabriel Heredia, Country Lead – Saudi Arabia, SC Ventures.
“This partnership with Sanabil Studio brings together complementary strengths, combining SC Ventures’ global fintech expertise and network with Sanabil Studio’s established venture-building platform and deep local expertise. Together, we aim to support entrepreneurs developing scalable SME-focused solutions that contribute to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 objectives.”
“At Sanabil Studio, we focus on systematically ideating and building new ventures from Saudi Arabia with global ambition,” said Muhanad Alashtr, Head of Venture Build, Sanabil Studio.
“This MoU enables us to leverage SC Ventures’ global fintech experience and network as we develop and validate companies designed to compete in regional and international markets.”
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