“Can a SAMA-licensed EMI become the de facto SMB and freelancer bank for Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC?”
Founded in 2017 as Halalah, Hala began as a digital payments and POS platform for Saudi merchants. It has progressively layered banking-like services on top — IBAN business accounts, Visa/mada cards, expense management, POS-based financing, and payroll management — to position itself as 'the future bank for MSMEs' across Saudi Arabia. Operating under an EMI license from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), the 2025 $157M Series B at a $900M valuation funds deeper banking capabilities and regional expansion.
Hala UAE discloses Hala Payments Company (in-house, SAMA EMI) as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Hala UAE does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Hala Payments Company (in-house, SAMA EMI).
Hala UAE processes payments through Hala POS (self-operated), Hala mPOS (self-operated), Visa card issuance (self-operated) and mada card issuance (self-operated).
Hala UAE's payroll is powered by Hala (in-house).
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 5 layers in Hala UAE's stack: Payments / PSP (Hala POS (self-operated), Hala mPOS (self-operated), Visa card issuance (self-operated) and mada card issuance (self-operated)); Banking / BaaS (Hala Payments Company (in-house, SAMA EMI)); Lending (Hala POS Financing (تمويل نقاط البيع)); Payroll (Hala (in-house)); Spend / AP (Hala Expense Management (self-operated) and Hala Sadad (سداد) (self-operated)).
Hala UAE is founded in 2017 and headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Hala UAE has raised ~$163.5M in total (latest round: Series B, 2025; valuation: ~$900M).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Hala UAE and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.