Circlys

Riyadh-based fintech that digitises rotating savings circles (ROSCAs) for Saudi users, backed by a crowdfunded pre-Series A round and SAMA sandbox participation.

Industry: Fintech / digital savings circles | Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Founded: 2018 | Total Funding: About USD 1.3M (SAR 5M, 2022) plus SAR 1.5M seed (2019), per Wamda

About Circlys

Circlys is a Riyadh-based financial technology company that moves the traditional savings circle, known in the region as a jam'iya or rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA), onto a mobile platform. In an electronic ROSCA, a group of members each contribute a fixed amount every cycle and one member receives the pooled sum in turn. Circlys lets users join a cycle sized to the amount they need and choose their payout date, so that an informal practice common across the Middle East can be run with digital records and payments.

Wamda reported that the company was founded in 2018, while CB Insights and ZoftwareHub give 2017, so sources differ on the year. Khaled Hassoun is named as founder and chief executive by CB Insights, ZoftwareHub and Wamda.

Wamda reported that Circlys raised SAR 1.5 million in a seed round in 2019. In March 2022 the company raised SAR 5 million, roughly USD 1.3 million, through the crowdfunding platform Scopeer, a round Wamda described as pre-Series A. CB Insights lists the same amount of about USD 1.33 million and attaches a post-money valuation of USD 24 million to it; that valuation figure comes from CB Insights alone.

According to Wamda, Circlys took part in the regulatory sandbox of the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), which allows fintech firms to test products under supervision. The same article said the company planned to list on Nomu, the Saudi parallel market, by the end of 2022; no report confirming a listing appeared in the sources reviewed.

User figures vary between sources, with one citing around 400,000 users and another about one million, and both come from older pages. Circlys also appears in a Unifonic resource page, which suggests it uses the messaging provider's services. Its website is bilingual, presented as Circlys and in Arabic as Cirklayz. The company is classified in the financial services sector and its operations are centred on Saudi Arabia.

Leadership