Sahm Capital courts users with team based rewards

Published: 2026-06-13T04:13:00.000Z

The race to win over retail investors in the Gulf is increasingly fought with game mechanics rather than just lower fees, and Sahm Capital's latest move shows it. The Riyadh based platform has launched a team based rewards campaign with a prize pool worth over $3,500, built around social, collaborative investing.

The race to win over retail investors in the Gulf is increasingly being fought with game mechanics rather than just lower fees, and Sahm Capital's latest move is a clear example. The Riyadh based, CMA licensed investment platform has launched a team based rewards campaign with a prize pool worth more than 13,000 Saudi riyals, or roughly $3,500. The setup is simple and deliberately social, inviting users of the Sahm app to form teams, pull in friends, and collectively grow their deposits to unlock tiered cash rewards. Running from mid May to 16 June, the campaign, cheerfully titled team up with friends, is less about the size of the prize and more about what it reveals about how these platforms now grow. The mechanics borrow openly from the world of mobile gaming. Each team's progress is tracked through its total net deposits, with rewards kicking in once the group crosses certain thresholds, and both ordinary members and team leaders become eligible for incentives as those collective deposits climb. The more a team puts in, the bigger the rewards it can unlock, with payouts distributed according to verified performance at each level. It is a straightforward loop, but a clever one, since it nudges existing users to recruit new ones and to deposit more, turning customer acquisition into something users do for the platform themselves. That design choice matters more than the modest prize money suggests. Sahm framed the campaign as a way to make investing more collaborative and engaging, with its chief financial officer Mohammed Asiri describing it as an effort to let users connect with friends, grow together and share in the outcomes of their activity. Stripped of the marketing language, the goal is engagement and stickiness, keeping people active on the app and bringing their social circles along with them. The timing follows a notable milestone for the company, which recently passed two million registered users across the MENA region, a figure it is clearly keen to keep pushing higher. What makes this worth a second look is the broader competitive backdrop. Digital brokerages across the Gulf are locked in a scramble for a fast growing pool of retail investors, and they are increasingly reaching for the same toolkit, including rewards programs, educational content, community features and referral mechanics, to stand out from one another. As more first time investors enter the market, the battle is shifting from simply offering access toward keeping users engaged once they arrive. The regional read ties it together. Saudi Arabia's retail investing scene has expanded sharply as capital market participation widens and digital platforms proliferate under the broader Vision 2030 push to deepen financial markets. A young, mobile first population accustomed to social apps responds well to exactly this kind of gamified, friend driven experience. For platforms like Sahm, blending investing with the mechanics of a social game is becoming less a gimmick and more a core growth strategy.