Open Banking began in the Middle East as a regulatory concept. Tarabut has spent much of the past eight years turning that concept into infrastructure.
Founded in Bahrain in 2018 by Abdulla Almoayed, Tarabut describes itself as the region's first Open Banking platform and has grown into one of MENA's largest Open Banking and embedded-finance infrastructure providers.
Today the company says its technology powers approximately 80 per cent of Saudi banks and connects more than 50 financial institutions across the region.
Its proposition spans four increasingly interconnected areas: Banking-as-a-Service infrastructure, financial data, embedded finance and account-to-account payments.
This combination places Tarabut at an important junction in the financial system. Open Banking enables customers to give authorised institutions access to financial information; embedded finance allows products such as credit to appear inside non-bank platforms; account-to-account payments can create alternatives to traditional card rails.
Under Almoayed, Tarabut has expanded from Bahrain into Saudi Arabia and the UAE while building relationships with regulators and major financial institutions. The company is regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain, has operated within the Saudi Central Bank's regulatory environment and has received in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE for Open Finance activities.
Saudi Arabia has become an especially important centre of gravity for the business. Tarabut established its regional headquarters in Riyadh and in September 2026 secured $50 million in strategic financing from investors including Riyad Bank, the X-Tech Fund managed by SAB Invest, GIB Saudi Arabia, Zamil Group and Kanoo Ventures.
Artificial intelligence is also becoming part of the strategy. Tarabut acquired Bahrain-founded AI platform Servable, aiming to integrate AI engineering, governance and decision-making capabilities into its financial infrastructure.
Almoayed's vision reflects an important change in fintech economics.
The first wave digitised individual banking products. The next is connecting them.
As banks, fintech companies, marketplaces and consumer platforms increasingly exchange financial data and embed financing directly into customer journeys, infrastructure providers such as Tarabut can become critical intermediaries.
By building those connections from within the region rather than importing infrastructure designed for other markets, Tarabut is positioning itself as one of the companies most likely to shape the underlying architecture of Gulf finance.