PUAS LLC

Executive summary

PUAS LLC is a MISA-registered Saudi limited liability company operating as a licensed Tour & Travel Agency. It solves a structural payment problem that has persisted for decades: Indonesian Umrah and Hajj travel agents cannot legally settle Saudi hotel invoices in Riyals without a Saudi legal entity — and none of them has one.

PUAS is that entity.

When an Indonesian agent routes a hotel invoice through PUAS, the agent pays PUAS in IDR for a travel service package. PUAS settles the hotel in SAR as a B2B transaction inside the Kingdom. No currency crosses a border. No remittance occurs. Three explicit SAMA regulatory exemptions confirm this structure is commerce, not remittance.

The legal insight is the moat. No fintech application, bank, or money transfer operator can replicate it without a Saudi LLC, a Tour Agency licence, and a local Riyal pool. Building those assets took the founder more than two years and SAR 750,000 of personal capital. They are already in place.

The raise

Base case returns — 25% equity stake

The problem

Every year, more than 2 million Indonesian pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia for Umrah and Hajj. More than 2,600 licensed Indonesian travel agents — PPIUs — handle their hotel bookings. Those hotels are in Mecca and Medina. They invoice in SAR. The agents hold IDR.

Paying a Saudi hotel in Riyals from Indonesia, through a legal channel, is harder than it sounds. Agents face two options:

Option A — Bank wire (SWIFT)

Legal, but costly and slow. Indonesian banks charge wire fees plus an FX spread of 0.8–1.3% above mid-market — a total effective cost of 3–5% including spread. Settlement takes 2–3 weeks. Banks require extensive documentation with no Indonesian-language support on the Saudi side. For large seasonal transfers timed to pilgrim group departures, the timing mismatch is operationally damaging.

Option B — Hawala or informal USDT

Fast and cheap — typically near mid-market — but illegal under SAMA regulations and Saudi AML law. Agents who use informal channels carry full criminal liability with no documentation trail, no recourse if funds go missing, and no protection if the network collapses.

Most agents choose Option B. This is not ideology. It is rational economics in the absence of a legal alternative that works.

The structural nature of the gap

The gap is not a product gap. Banks have the licence but have not built the product. MTOs have the product but lack a Saudi legal entity. Fintech applications have the interface but no Saudi-side entity at all.

The solution and legal insight

PUAS discovered that the third option — one that has always been legal — was never built into a product.

The mechanism: an Indonesian agent pays PUAS in IDR for a travel service package. PUAS — as a Saudi-registered Tour & Travel Agency — pays the Saudi hotel in SAR as settlement of its own supplier invoice. No payment account is created in the agent's name. No currency crosses a border. No money transfer occurs. Three SAMA regulatory exemptions confirm this position explicitly.

Why the moat is structural

No competitor can enter this market quickly. To replicate PUAS, a competitor needs:

• A MISA-registered Saudi LLC with Travel & Tourism activity codes — over two years for PUAS to establish
• A Ministry of Tourism Travel & Tourism Agency licence — dependent on the LLC being in place first
• A local Riyal pool large enough to fund settlement float and offer net-7 terms to agents
• A founder who understands both the Saudi regulatory environment and the Indonesian PPIU market simultaneously

The combination of these four assets cannot be replicated in less than two years from standing start. PUAS has all four today.

How it works

The five-step mechanism

The Riyal pool

The SAR does not come from Indonesia. It comes from inside Saudi Arabia:

• The Bali Restaurant (Al-Khobar): daily SAR revenue, zero FX cost
• Hotel allotment commissions: paid in SAR by Saudi hotels as volume grows
• Settlement float from raise: SAR 2 million dedicated reserve, Day 1 of agent flow

The pool is both the operational engine and the switching moat. ActionPay requires IDR prepayment. PUAS can offer agents net-7 settlement terms — the hotel is booked and confirmed before IDR clears. No competitor can offer this without the same SAR reserve.

Regulatory framework

Saudi side — confirmed positions

Three explicit SAMA exemptions

Saudi entity status

Nusuk Masar — structural tailwind (June 2025)

Saudi Arabia now mandates all Umrah hotel bookings be confirmed through Nusuk Masar before a visa is issued. Foreign agents cannot access the platform directly — they must route through a Saudi-registered entity. The PUAS function has moved from being competitively advantaged to being a regulatory requirement.

AML obligations (Saudi side)

PUAS is not a DNFBP under Saudi AML law — travel agencies are absent from the designated list. General AML obligations apply: CDD/KYB on every PPIU, beneficial owner identification, source-of-funds documentation, 10-year record retention, suspicious transaction reporting via GoAML, and sanctions screening. Supervisory authority: Ministry of Commerce and Investment, not SAMA.

Indonesian side — confirmed positions

The PPIU pays its Indonesian bank in IDR. The bank converts and remits to PUAS's Saudi account via SWIFT. IDR cannot be physically transferred abroad under PBI 16/17/PBI/2014. PPIUs are not Pihak Pelapor (reporting parties) under PP 43/2015 — the PPIU's bank files all cross-border reports automatically.

Known unknowns — disclosed to investors

Market size and opportunity

Hotel spend — the addressable pool

PUAS penetration targets

PUAS does not need to dominate the market. Year 5 at 220 agents captures less than 2% of the conservative hotel spend TAM. The penetration story is minimal risk, substantial reward.

Customer validation

The founder conducted direct conversations with approximately 10 Indonesian PPIU agents and one executive at ActionPay — Bank Indonesia-licensed MTO serving 250+ Hajj and Umrah agents.

Key findings

Quotable signals from direct interviews

Business model

Revenue stream 1 — Hotel settlement margin

PUAS buys hotel room inventory at wholesale from Mecca and Medina properties, settles agents' hotel invoices at a competitive rate, and retains the spread. Entry via B2B platforms (WebBeds, MaqamUmrah) available immediately via MISA registration. Discount curve deepens as volume unlocks direct allotment contracts.

Revenue stream 2 — The Bali Restaurants

Indonesian F&B brand in Saudi Arabia. Al-Khobar open. Jeddah launching from raise capital. Daily SAR revenue — the Riyal pool anchor. Mecca and Medina locations follow the agent network, enabling meal bundling in pilgrim packages. See Section 9 for full detail.

Revenue stream 3 — Transport and pilgrim services

Ground transfers, coach charters, and all Saudi-side pilgrim services. Demand signal confirmed unsolicited in every agent interview. Modelled conservatively: zero Year 1, SAR 250K Year 3, SAR 1.8M Year 5.

The flywheel — quantified

The Bali Restaurant chain

The Bali serves three functions: (1) the SAR pool anchor that makes the hotel settlement mechanism self-sustaining, (2) the pilgrim service bundle in Mecca and Medina, and (3) a physical proof that PUAS is a real operating company in Saudi Arabia.

Investment and rollout plan

Monthly cash flow per location (base case)

5-year chain economics (base case)

Payback per location: 28–36 months at base case. Locations 3+ are self-funded from Year 2 restaurant operating profit — no additional raise capital required beyond Jeddah.

Unit economics

Exchange rate — the competitive benchmark

The real benchmark is ActionPay — the market's best-priced licensed MTO, already operating near mid-market. PUAS does not need to beat banks. It needs to beat ActionPay.

Settlement float — the dominant capital item

PUAS pays hotels at or before check-in. IDR arrives T+1 to T+3 (5–14 calendar days float gap).

The settlement float is a recoverable balance sheet asset, not a sunk cost. It earns ~5% SAIBOR (~SAR 100K/year) and is returned in full at wind-down. It is also the switching moat — ActionPay requires IDR prepayment; PUAS can offer net-7 terms.

Break-even per agent

Hotel margin per agent per month: 4% × SAR 162,500 (hotel share) = SAR 6,500. Subsidy cost per agent (0.75% × SAR 250K): SAR 1,875. Net contribution: SAR 4,625/agent/month. Break-even at the agent level: month 4–6.

Competitive landscape

Barriers to competitive entry

• Regulatory: New entrant starting the MISA + CR + MoT process today would not be operational before mid-2027 at the earliest
• Capital: SAR 2 million settlement float cannot be substituted by technology or relationships
• Founder credibility: 25+ years in Saudi Arabia, Premium Residence Iqama, bilateral regulatory knowledge — not replicable by hiring

Financial projections

Three scenarios: Conservative / Base case / Optimistic. All figures SAR thousands unless noted. Year 1 = 12 months from raise close.

Agent ramp

Total net revenue (SAR thousands)

EBITDA — three scenarios (SAR thousands)

Operating expenses — base case (SAR thousands)

Net income — base case (SAR thousands)

Monthly breakeven

Use of funds

Capital efficiency summary

The SAR 5M raise is not a 24-month burn fund. 52% sits in recoverable assets on Day 1. The Jeddah Bali is a permanent asset with a 28–36 month payback. Operating expenses are only 33% of the raise.

Deal structure and investor terms

The raise

Pre-money valuation rationale

Three anchors justify SAR 15 million: (1) replacement cost — founder deployed SAR 750K of personal capital plus 2+ years of regulatory navigation that cannot be replicated at any price by a new entrant; (2) forward DCF — Year 3 base enterprise value SAR 38.5M discounted at 50% risk-adjusted rate = SAR 11.4M; Year 5 = SAR 21.2M; SAR 15M sits inside this range; (3) investor returns remain strong at the ask price.

Investor tranches

Cash return structure

Preferred distribution: 8% per annum cumulative, non-compounding, accruing from date of investment. On SAR 5M total: SAR 400,000 per year. Year 1 accrues. Year 2 onward: paid before any ordinary distribution. Unpaid amounts carry forward.

Ordinary distribution: After preferred return is covered, 30% of remaining net income distributed pro-rata to all quota holders.

Distribution waterfall (priority order)

1. Settlement float maintained at SAR 2M minimum (untouchable)
2. Accrued 8% preferred return paid to all investors
3. 30% of remaining net income distributed pro-rata
4. Remainder retained for working capital growth and Bali expansion

Governance

Reserved matters requiring investor consent: issuing new equity; amending profit distribution waterfall; selling assets above SAR 1M; related-party transactions above SAR 250K; debt exceeding SAR 2M; material change of business activity.

Exit pathways

Founding agent partner benefits (Tranche B only)

In addition to the same equity economics as Tranche A: priority allotment of hotel room blocks before the general agent pool; rate lock for 3 years (no worse than ActionPay's prevailing rate); referral commission of 15–20% of PUAS's hotel margin on volume brought by agents they refer, paid quarterly.

Tax disclosures

Returns and downside protection

Return scenarios — 25% equity stake

Year 3 weakness in conservative and base cases is addressed by: (a) 8% preferred return accruing from Day 1, (b) 30% dividend distribution from Year 2, and (c) 1.5× total-return put option.

Downside protection — wind-down scenario

Floor recovery of 55–62% is exceptional for seed-stage. Most seed investments offer no floor recovery. Here, 52% of the raise sits in recoverable balance sheet assets on Day 1.

Risk factors

The founder

Albaq Novfri Andrian

Founder and Managing Director, PUAS LLC. Based in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

Albaq has lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for more than 25 years. He holds a Premium Residence Iqama. He is an Indonesian national — shareholder agreements signed in Indonesia are enforceable under Indonesian law, a material benefit for Indonesian co-investors. His background is in industrial optimisation and large-scale operations in Saudi Arabia's petrochemical sector.

Personal capital already deployed

Investors are not being asked to fund the start of something. They are being asked to scale something that already exists. The legal foundation is laid. The first restaurant is open. The PPIU licence is held.

Open items before close

Next steps

For investors

1. Review this memorandum and the accompanying financial model in full
2. Request the full financial model — 5-year projection with monthly Year 1–2 cash flow, sensitivity tables, and scenario detail
3. Meet the founder — Albaq Andrian conducts investor meetings in Al-Khobar or by video call
4. Legal and tax review — investors are encouraged to have their own advisors review the deal structure; a draft shareholders' agreement will be provided on request
5. First close — minimum SAR 2M to open operations; first-close investors begin accruing the 8% preferred return immediately

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