Funding Souq
“Can a Shariah-compliant debt crowdfunding platform become the default SME private credit rail across the GCC?”
Founded2020
HQFintech Hive, DIFC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
FoundersMartin Jaouni
IndustryFintech / Lending
The story
Funding Souq is a DIFC-licensed, Shariah-compliant SME debt crowdfunding platform that connects established SMEs in the UAE and Saudi Arabia with retail and institutional investors. It launched in late 2020 in Dubai under DFSA license F005822 with an Islamic Window endorsement, then expanded to Saudi Arabia in 2021 under a separate entity regulated by the Saudi Central Bank. Its evolution has focused on widening distribution — notably the 2024 Qoyod accounting partnership to embed SME financing into accounting software — rather than building a banking or card stack.
Product timeline
2020
Funding Souq founded in DIFC, Dubai as a Shariah-compliant SME debt crowdfunding platform· pivot
2021
Expanded to Saudi Arabia under separate CR and Saudi Central Bank oversight· banking
2024
Partnered with Qoyod (Saudi accounting software) to embed SME financing into the Qoyod platform· lending
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by Funding Souq
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
4 layers disclosed in Funding Souq’s embedded-finance stack
Banking / BaaS
United Arab Bank (segregated client money account — banking partner, not BaaS)
Lending
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
6 more providers across 3 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.