Jeel launches Sandbox to boost Saudi FinTech innovation

By Vriti Gothi

Jeel, powered by Riyad Bank, has partnered with FinTech Saudi to advance digital innovation and strengthen the Kingdom’s FinTech ecosystem.

Through this collaboration, Jeel has launched the Jeel Sandbox, a pioneering technical platform designed to empower the Saudi FinTech community across development, experimentation, and licensing. The initiative represents one of the first platforms of its kind in Saudi Arabia and marks a significant step toward building a future-ready financial sector.

Jeel Sandbox provides innovators, startups, and financial institutions with a secure, locally hosted environment for testing APIs and new financial solutions safely, without impacting live banking systems. By leveraging mock data, participants can rapidly prototype, validate ideas, and scale from concept to market-ready products with speed and confidence.

The platform also supports the full innovation lifecycle, including User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and advanced services such as Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS), making it a central gateway to Saudi Arabia’s financial innovation ecosystem.

Mazen Pharaon, Vice Chairman of Jeel, said, “This launch represents a major milestone not only for Jeel but for the entire FinTech community in Saudi Arabia. Jeel Sandbox is a catalyst for collaboration, innovation, and growth building bridges between financial institutions, startups, and innovators who are shaping the future of finance.”

George Harrak, CEO of Jeel, said, “The launch of Jeel Sandbox brings tangible advantages to innovators across the Kingdom: lowering barriers to entry for startups with ready-to-use testing infrastructure, accelerating innovation cycles to reduce time from concept to market, providing a compliance-first environment that gives entrepreneurs confidence to experiment without risk, and enabling collaboration between FinTechs and banks across the ecosystem.”