Tamara

Tamara is a Saudi buy now, pay later and consumer finance company founded in early 2020 by Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, its chief executive, with Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain. A $340 million Series C in December 2023, led by SNB Capital and Sanabil Investments, valued it at $1 billion. In March 2025 its operating company, Tamara Finance Company, received a full consumer finance licence from the Saudi Central Bank, and in October 2025 it gained a restricted finance licence from the Central Bank of the UAE.

Shoppers can spread purchases over as long as 24 months, depending on the plan; at launch Tamara offered pay in 30 days and pay in three. Its plans are Shariah-compliant, and it dropped late fees in December 2023. A paid Smart membership adds cashback and rewards. Tamara reports more than 20 million customers and over 87,000 merchants. Its service is aimed at Saudi Arabia and the UAE, though the site also has Kuwait and Bahrain versions.

Merchants are paid upfront and Tamara collects the instalments. Settlement is weekly, with bank transfers on Tuesdays for captured orders, in SAR or AED; on the fixed model, payouts under 2,500 carry a flat 25 SAR or AED fee. Plug-ins exist for Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento 2, OpenCart, PrestaShop, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Salla and Zid, and Tamara can also be switched on through Checkout.com, Amazon Payment Services, PayTabs, Tap Payments and CCAvenue. In store it works through SMS payment links, QR codes and terminals from Geidea and Paymob. Merchant fees are not published.

Tamara suits consumer businesses in Saudi Arabia above all, from the airline Saudia to Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare and Apple's online store, and increasingly in the UAE. Each shopper's approval is Tamara's decision, and refunds on orders taken through a payment provider go through that provider.