Latham Advises Sequoia Capital India on Its Inaugural GCC Investment

Latham & Watkins has advised Sequoia Capital India as the lead investor in a US$33 million Series A round in Lean Technologies (Lean), a fintech platform providing a universal Application Programming Interface (API) that unlocks critical infrastructure across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Existing investors RAED Ventures, Outliers, Shorooq, and JIMCO also participated in the round, along with Liberty City Ventures, Human Capital, and notable angels including Brex’s Henrique Dubugras, former GE CEO Jeff Immelt, and Michael Ovitz.

Founded in September 2019, Lean’s platform and APIs allows its clients to seamlessly integrate with their customer’s bank accounts to retrieve pertinent account information or initiate instant bank transfers. The company launched its flagship Data and Payments APIs in February 2021, and has since amassed dozens of the region’s leading financial players as clients, connected to tens of thousands of customer accounts, and processed hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions.  

The Latham team was led by counsel Eyad Latif, who leads Latham’s Emerging Companies Practice in Dubai, and Dubai associate Omar Maayeh.