Saudi Arabia's cashless push just gained a new player. The Saudi central bank has granted an e-wallet license to Light Advanced Financial — the kingdom's 32nd licensed payment company and a major milestone for its founder. Joining me to discuss this is Fahad Anteet, Co-Founder and CEO of Lite. Welcome to the show.
Thank you so much for hosting me.
SAMA just licensed Lite to provide e-wallet payment services. Walk us through what that license actually lets you do now that you could not do before.
Two things. First, we now operate directly under SAMA oversight. When a business trusts you with their money, that matters more than any feature. Second, it lets us serve businesses directly under our own license rather than depending on someone else. It is called an e-wallet license, but what we build is for businesses, not consumers. The license is where the work starts — it gives us the permission to play. Trust is earned in how reliably we operate every day.
You spent nearly 20 years at places like Mastercard and Visa. What gap did you see from the inside that made you want to build Lite?
From the inside, I saw the same problem again and again. Payments are fragmented. And the bigger your business, the more that fragmentation hurts. Any business deals with different acquirers, different providers. More locations, more employees, and legacy systems that sometimes simply will not work together. Whatever the size — different sizes, same pain. That is the gap I wanted to close. A connected answer to fragmentation for businesses of every size.
What is the actual problem Saudi businesses have with payments that consumers never see?
For a consumer, a payment ends when they tap their phone or their card. For a business, that is where the work begins. When will the money arrive? Which sales does it match? Why was that fee charged? How much cash will I really have next week? As a business grows across branches, channels, and platforms, those questions multiply and the answers sit in different places — that costs time and makes decisions harder. Our job is to take that friction away so businesses can see what is happening and stay in control.
You raised $3.2 million in pre-seed funding. What is that money going towards?
That round went into two things — the technology and the license. You cannot shortcut this business. We chose to build infrastructure designed for this market and do the regulatory work properly before trying to scale anything. With the license in hand, the focus now moves to putting Lite in businesses' hands and proving every day that it works. Payment reliability is what earns you the next step.
Is regulation in Saudi moving fast enough to match Vision 2030's ambitions?
The market has moved faster than most — if not the fastest. Electronic payments were at 85% of retail payments last year. The target of 70% set for 2025 was actually reached two years early. The regulator has been deliberate, opening the door for new licensed players while keeping the bar high. The combination is exactly what builds trust. The question now is less about cash versus digital. It is about how digital money works for the businesses using it. That is where the next phase of innovation will come from.
Thank you for joining us today.
Thank you for your time. Nice to meet you.
