“Can a single regulated infrastructure platform own both open banking data and account-to-account payments across MENA's fragmented bank ecosystem?”
Lean was founded in 2019 in Riyadh as an open banking API platform for MENA, abstracting fragmented bank integrations across Saudi Arabia and the UAE. After raising a $33M Series A from Sequoia India in 2022 and a $67.5M Series B led by General Catalyst in 2024, the company expanded from pure data aggregation into payments — launching Pay by Bank, Payouts, and identity/account verification products. It now positions itself as a single regulated platform combining Open Finance and Open Banking, licensed by SAMA, CBUAE (IPA), and ADGM FSRA.