Source: Menabytes

Elm, a leading Saudi information technology company that is owned by country’s sovereign wealth fund, PIF, has announced its investment in local online car marketplace Syarah, without disclosing the size of transaction. Syarah had raised $2 million Series A in May last year.

It is the second investment made by Elm after launching their corporate VC last year. They had earlier participated in Unifonic’s $21 million Series A that was led by STV.

Founded in 2015 by Salah Sharef and Fayez Alanazi, Syarah enables both individuals and businesses to buy and sell cars through its web-based platform and mobile apps. The startup lists both new and used cars and currently has about 20,000 listings. Syarah also offers car financing solutions, helping customers buy cars on installments through different banks and financing companies in Saudi.

Salah Sharef and Fayez Alenazi, the co-founders of Syarah, speaking about the investment said that the partnership with Elm will help them significantly improve their products.

Majid Alarifi, Vice President of Marketing with Elm said that this investment is in line with Elm’s strategy to invest in innovative businesses and that they plan to help these businesses not only with capital but also by offering technical expertise.

Syarah claims to be the largest online marketplace for cars in the Middle East. According to the publicly available stats, the website receives about 700,000 visitors every month.