Souqalmal Raises $10M From Gocompare.com and Others

UAE-based insurance and financial products aggregator Souqalmal announced it has raised $10M in a Series B round, bringing its total funding to date to $14.5M . The round was led by Saudi-based RiyadTaqnia Fund (RTF), and GoCompare.

The startup, established in 2012 by Ambareen Musa, is the first regional online comparison site for financial and non-financial consumer products. Also, the site allows users to search and compare over 1,000 products and post their views on the products they currently own.

“GoCompare brings in the knowledge and know-how that RTF and UAE Exchange Group cannot give me; RTF is opening the Saudi market for us that nobody else can do, and UAE Exchange Group is bringing me 15 million customers regionally, which none of the two others can give me. It’s the perfect combination of investors. Now, we are going to keep on pushing to make this a big regional business” – Ambaree Musa to Entrepreneur Middle East.

Wait, there’s more. The startup recently won a three-year agreement to help the central bank of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), build, populate and manage an official financial awareness platform for KSA consumers, including handling complaints from both Saudi consumers and banks, finance, and insurance companies. That’s a new business for which the startup is paid a fixed price.

Bottom Line: the funding will be used to launch new products, develop technology, and invest in marketing.