The problem
Saudi government services ran on paper, queues and in-person procedures across security, health, transport and finance. The state needed a trusted national builder that could digitise registries and citizen-facing services at population scale without compromising security.
How it works
Elm builds and runs the digital infrastructure behind government platforms — digital identity, e-government portals, AI and data analytics, smart cities, healthcare and digital banking systems — and operates them (2B+ transactions a year). Through seven subsidiaries it adds consultation, data analysis, business-process outsourcing and HR services, and it now exports the model regionally with compliance platforms in Oman, archiving and ERP in Jordan, and judicial digitisation in Iraq.
Pain points
Fragmented agency systems, paper bureaucracy, and the extreme security and reliability bar for national registries and citizen data — plus the need to keep 170+ large projects running while adding AI capabilities.
Business model
Primarily fees from digital services to public- and private-sector clients, layered with outsourcing contracts, customised IT solutions and professional services. It has also deployed USD60M+ across 20 company investments and USD33M+ across eight acquisitions.
Challenges
Growth still leans on government demand; regional engagements must convert into durable revenue; and with no clean listed peer on Tadawul, the stock trades at a premium (~24x trailing earnings per one valuation study) that leaves little room for execution slips.
Funding
- Listed on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul: 7203) on 16 February 2022 at SAR 128 per share (top of the SAR 113–128 range), valuing the company at about SAR 10.24B at offer; the 24M shares sold came entirely from the selling shareholder, PIF, which retained ~70%.
- Valuation: SAR 10.24B at IPO offer (Feb 2022, IPOX).
Latest — July 2026
On 3 July 2026 Elm announced it will showcase the Saudi digital-transformation model at LEAP East Hong Kong (8–10 July), its first outing beyond Riyadh, pitching three decades of government partnership — 30M+ users, 170+ projects, 2B+ annual transactions — to APAC technology partners and investors.