Riyadh – Mubasher: SoftBank Group has partnered with a unit of the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund for a deal on Unifonic, marking its first investment in a Saudi-based company.
SoftBank and the unit will lead a $125 million financing for the Saudi customer communication platform, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
The proceeds of the financing will be used to fund Unifonic’s growth in the Middle East and expansion into Asia and Africa, according to Co-founder and CEO, Ahmed Hamdan. The Saudi firm also seeks acquisitions in those regions for a faster expansion process.
Unifonic carried out 10 billion transactions last year during the pandemic, charging a small fee for every message it sends to customers. The company is expected to achieve sales of more than $100 million in 2021.
Hamdan noted that the firm will start planning a listing on a global exchange over the coming three years.
“Over the next five years, we see the business growing by 10 times,” Hamdan was quoted as saying. He added: “So we could process 100 billion transactions, impact 400 million people, and potentially be working with 50,000 companies.”
