• Zest Equity raised USD 4.3 million in a pre-Series A round led by Prosus Ventures and Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures.
• With the funding, it aims to simplify private market transactions, expand to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and scale its platform.
• The startup focuses on streamlining private market deals under USD 100 million, a space often overlooked by traditional investment banks.

Zest Equity

What happened? Zest Equity secured USD 4.3 million in a pre-Series A funding round. The round was led by Prosus Ventures with participation from Morgan Stanley Inclusive &; Sustainable Ventures (MSISV).

“Prosus Ventures’ deep understanding of emerging markets makes them the ideal partner to accelerate our expansion, while MSISV’s expertise will be key to scaling sustainably and compliantly,” added Rawan Baddour, Co-founder of Zest Equity.

What will they do with the funding? With the new investment, the startup will reinforce its mission to simplify and digitize private market transaction processes. 

“This funding milestone allows us to continue in our mission to remove friction from private market transaction processes,” said Zuhair Shamma, Co-founder and CEO of Zest Equity.

In addition, it aims to expand to Saudi Arabia and the UAE as well as acquire specialized talent. It also aims to develop new products and scale technology infrastructure to support growing volumes and types of transactions.

Why does this matter? The startup aims to tackle the gap of providing execution solutions for private market transactions. Moreover, it specifically focuses on transactions under the USD 100 million  threshold which are deals often overlooked by investment banks.

Who are they? Founded in 2021 by Zuhair Shamma and Rawan Baddour, Zest Equity is a digital infrastructure solutions platform for private market transactions.

With its headquarters in the UAE, the startup seeks to build a transactional stack to power private market transactions end to end.