UAE-based fintech Zest Equity announced it raised $3.8 million in seed funding, to hit total funding raised by the startup at $5.7 million.

The investment round was led by Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) with participation from the Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF), and DASH Ventures. 

The company is a venture-backed technology company offering digital infrastructure for private market transactions and provides private market stakeholders with a solution to make their transactions and have access to liquidity. 

The new funding will help the startup expand to other emerging markets like Africa (North Africa), South Asia, South Asia, and Turkey.

Zest Equity has raised a total of $5.7 million with early supporters including DFDF, 500 Sanabil, Nuwa Capital, and a significant group of regional angel investors, co-founders, and family offices.

Walid Mansour, Co-CEO, of Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) said: “In a relatively short time, Zest Equity has already proven to be a valuable and dependable solution for digitizing private market transactions in the Middle East. As more startups and investors mature, they inevitably seek more avenues to liquidity and opportunity. 

“This clearly illustrates that our ecosystem’s need for this solution is growing. Rawan and Zuhair understand this need firsthand and have built an incredible team and product in response. Betting on them was easy,” Mansour added. 

Rawan Baddour, Co-founder of Zest Equity said: “Zest was born with a vision to encourage better communication, transparency, and process standardization within private https://zestequity.commarket transactions. At its core, what Zest is building is a convenient and comprehensive tool designed to cut the costs and complexities involved in traditional private market transactions. 

“Our platform digitizes the transaction process making it easier for existing stakeholders (founders, investors, and employees) of private companies to transact and benefit from liquidity, in a pre-approved and transparent manner,” Baddour added.

Sharif El-Badawi, CEO, of Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF) said: “We are proud to have supported the team at Zest Equity since day one. Liquidity, as well as the infrastructure to create it, is critical to our burgeoning startup ecosystem. Their success serves everyone. We’re very impressed by their traction and look forward to their exciting future.” The funding round signifies the region’s commitment to boost innovative solutions that develop engagement, transparency and the efficiency of transaction processes in the evolving MENA venture ecosystem.