Hosam Arab, Co-Founder and CEO of Tabby
Hosam Arab co-founded Tabby with Daniil Barkalov in 2019 and has led the company as Chief Executive Officer since then. Tabby, a buy now, pay later and shopping app company, moved its headquarters from the UAE to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2023.
| Role | Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer |
|---|---|
| Company | Tabby |
| Headquarters | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Industry | Finance and Banking |
| In role since | 2019 |
| Education | BSc Electrical Engineering, Queen’s University, Canada; MBA, Harvard Business School |
| Company website | tabby.ai |
From Waha Capital and Namshi to Founding Tabby
Arab studied electrical engineering at Queen’s University in Canada and later earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He worked in engineering and advisory roles before moving into private equity at Waha Capital in Abu Dhabi, where he managed part of the firm’s asset portfolio.
- Early career: Engineering and advisory roles
- Waha Capital, Abu Dhabi: Private equity, managing portfolio assets
- Namshi: Co-founder and CEO of the online fashion retailer, which Emaar Malls fully acquired in 2019
- 2019 to present: Co-founder and CEO of Tabby
How Tabby Grew From Payments Into Wider Financial Services
Tabby lets shoppers split purchases into payments and offers a shopping app, with services in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait. In 2024 it agreed to buy Tweeq, a digital wallet provider licensed by the Saudi Central Bank, to move into everyday financial services beyond deferred payments. Tabby has reached profitability and is preparing for a stock market listing.
Tabby has more than 25 million registered users and over 65,000 brands and businesses on its platform, with annualized transaction volume of more than 18 billion US dollars. A 2025 secondary share sale valued the company at 4.5 billion US dollars.
Funding Milestones Under Arab’s Leadership
After the 2023 move to Saudi Arabia, Tabby raised over 200 million US dollars and passed a 1 billion dollar valuation. A 160 million dollar Series E round in early 2025 set its valuation at 3.3 billion US dollars, ahead of the later secondary sale.
Tabby Sources Behind This Hosam Arab Profile
- The Finance Frontier 2026: Hosam Arab, Co-Founder and CEO, Tabby, Entrepreneur Middle East
- Hosam Arab speaker profile, ABANA
- Tabby CEO Reveals Expansion Plans After Acquisition of SAMA-licensed Tweeq, Arab News
- Tabby Announces Completion of Secondary Share Sale, Zawya
- Tabby Raises 160 Million Dollars in Series E, Finance Middle East
