KARACHI: Haball, a Pakistan fintech firm, raised $52 million to expand its Shariah-compliant supply chain financing and payments services, the company said on Tuesday.
The funding, led by Zayn VC and Meezan Bank, includes $5 million in equity and $47 million in strategic financing and will support Haball’s growth plans for Pakistan, the company said in a statement.
The money will also help Haball’s expansion into the Middle East, starting with Saudi Arabia this year, it added.
“Supply chain finance in Pakistan is nascent but is expected to be worth over $9 billion; driven by the severe financing gap faced by the country’s SMEs – less than 5 percent can access financing from commercial banks,” the company statement said.
Islamic banking and finance has been growing rapidly in Pakistan, the world’s second most populous Muslim country, with assets reaching 9,689 billion Pakistani rupees ($34.54 billion)at the end of June 2024, according to the Quarterly Islamic Banking Bulletin released by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The market share of assets and deposits of the Islamic banking sector in the overall banking industry stood at 18.8 percent and 22.7 percent, respectively.
The central bank has a target of 30 percent of overall banking assets and deposits to be Islamic by this year, according to its strategic plans for 2023-2028.
Haball says it provides shariah-compliant financing to nearly 8,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as multinationals, in addition to digital invoicing, payment collection, and tax compliance services.
“Haball has processed over $3 billion in payments and disbursed over $110 million in financing – optimizing supply chains across the country,” said the firm’s founder and CEO, Omer bin Ahsan.
Islamic finance bans interest payments and pure monetary speculation and can only be used to invest in Shariah-compliant assets or portfolios. ($1 = 280.5000 Pakistani rupees)
Pakistani fintech secures $52 million funding to grow Islamic finance business, plans Middle East foray
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Pakistani fintech secures $52 million funding to grow Islamic finance business, plans Middle East foray
- Funding includes $5 million in equity, $47 million in strategic financing, will support Haball’s growth plans for Pakistan
- The money will also help Haball’s expansion into the Middle East, starting with Saudi Arabia this year, company said
Reforms target sustained growth in Saudi real estate sector, says Al-Hogail
RIYADH: The Real Estate Future Forum opened its doors for its first day at the Four Seasons Riyadh, with prominent global and local figures coming together to engage with one of the Kingdom’s most prospering sectors.
With new regulations, laws, and investments underway, 2026 is expected to be a year of momentous progress for the real estate sector in the Kingdom.
The forum opened with a video highlighting the sector’s progress in the Kingdom, during which an emphasis was placed on the forum’s ability to create global reach, representation, as well as agreements worth a cumulative $50 billion
With the Kingdom now opening up real estate ownership to foreigners, this year’s Real Estate Future Forum is placing a great deal of importance on this new milestone and its desired outcomes and impact on the market.
Aside from this year’s forum’s unique discussions surrounding those developments, it will also be the first of its kind to launch the Real Estate Excellence Award and announce its finalist during the three-day summit.
Minister of Municipalities and Housing and Chairman of the Real Estate General Authority Majed Al-Hogail took to stage to address the diverse audience on the real estate market’s achievements thus far and its milestones to come.
Of those important milestones, he underscored “real estate balance” as a key pillar of the sector’s decisions to implement regulatory tools “with the aim of constant growth which can maintain the vitality of this sector.” He pointed to examples of those regulatory measures, such as the White Land Tax.
On 2025’s progress, the minister highlighted the jump in Saudi family home ownership, which went from 47 percent in 2016 to 66 percent in 2025, keeping the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goal of 70 percent by the end of the decade on track.
He said the opening of the real estate market to foreigners is an indicator of the sector’s maturity under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He said his ministry plans to build over 300,000 housing units in Riyadh over the next three years.
Speaking to Arab News, Al-Hogail elaborated on these achievements, stating: “Today, demand, especially local demand, has grown significantly. The mortgage market has reached record levels, exceeding SR900 billion ($240 billion) in mortgage financing, we are now seeing SRC (Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co.) injecting both local and foreign liquidity on a large scale, reaching more than SR54 billion”
Al-Hogail described Makkah and Madinah as unique and special points in the Kingdom’s real estate market as he spoke of the sector’s attractiveness.
“Today, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has become, in international investment indices, one that takes a good share of the Middle East, and based on this, many real estate investment portfolios have begun to come in,” he said.
Al-Ahsa Gov. Prince Saud bin Talal bin Badr Al-Saud told Arab News the Kingdom’s ability to balance both heritage sites with real estate is one of its strengths.
He said: “Actually the real estate market supports the whole infrastructure … the whole ecosystem goes back together in the foundation of the real estate; if we have the right infrastructure we can leverage more on tourism plus we can leverage more on the quality of life … we’re looking at 2030, this is the vision … to have the right infrastructure the time for more investors to come in real estate, entertainment, plus tourism and culture.”
