IslamicMarkets.com closes strategic funding round with DDCAP

London and Kuala Lumpur, 24 October 2019 - IslamicMarkets Limited (“IslamicMarkets.com”), the world’s leading market intelligence provider for the Islamic financial and commercial markets, has closed a strategic funding round with one of the most recognised group of companies in the global Islamic finance industry, DDCAP Group™ (“DDCAP”). DDCAP’s undisclosed investment will give IslamicMarkets.com the freedom to develop its technology platform to become the industry standard market data, learning and transactional platform worldwide.

IslamicMarkets.com, as the largest online platform in the Islamic economy by number of users, and DDCAP, one of the world’s leading Islamic market intermediaries and financial technology solutions providers, are together committed to the development of the $5 trillion Islamic financial and commercial markets through technology. This funding round follows a year of extraordinary growth in IslamicMarkets.com’s fintech platform, now reaching over 250,000 users to make it the most widely used online information, learning, financial intelligence and investing platform in the Islamic economy.

Shakeeb Saqlain, CEO of IslamicMarkets.com, said:

“We are excited to be collaborating with DDCAP as we continue to build a platform that unlocks opportunities across the global Islamic economy.

DDCAP’s subscription to IslamicMarkets’ Enterprise Platform earlier this year and now its investment is a testament to IslamicMarkets.com’s rapidly growing brand recognition and world class technology platform.”

Stella Cox CBE, Managing Director of DDCAP, said:

“It is no secret that DDCAP had, for some while, been looking for investment opportunities within halal economy businesses with exceptional fintech strategies. We recognised the potential of this partnership, in terms both of investment and broader relationship, at an early stage of discussion but it became ever more apparent when DDCAP subscribed to IslamicMarkets’ Enterprise Platform.

In DDCAP and IslamicMarkets.com we have two businesses that already have much in common, but with each potentially offering enormous positive impact to the other. That aside, as we undertook our diligence, even we were surprised to find a business that was such a precise fit with our priorities as an investor and with management whose strategic thoughts were so closely aligned to our own.”

Both IslamicMarkets.com and DDCAP are represented on the UK Islamic FinTech Panel. The Panel was set up as an independent industry initiative to connect the fast growing UK Islamic fintech industry, develop the UK ecosystem and provide a fast track to relevant departments in Her Majesty’s Government to help solve policy issues.

IslamicMarkets.com was advised by Gateway Global LLP and DDCAP was advised by Howat Avraam Solicitors.

BACKGROUND

IslamicMarkets.com is the world’s most widely used online information, learning, financial intelligence and investing platform dedicated to the $6 trillion global Islamic economy. The technology platform has 250,000 unique users, offering them data and market insights, research and publications, e-learning services, and global investor connectivity.

DDCAP is joining other institutional investors in IslamicMarkets.com, including New World Capital Advisors, the London-based merchant banking and investment firm. In June 2019, IslamicMarkets.com was named the winner of a US$1 million Islamic economy competition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – a contest hosted by Gobi Partners, a leading venture capital firm with presence across China, Hong Kong, and ASEAN region.

DDCAP is headquartered in London with offices in the Dubai International Financial Centre and Kuala Lumpur. DDCAP aspires to connect the global Islamic financial market responsibly. Since its founding in 1998, DDCAP has become a leading provider of responsible asset facilitation services across a diverse range of Shari’a compliant products and instruments in both the primary and secondary markets. It facilitates wholesale, structured transactions for institutional clients from both the Islamic and conventional markets and provides transactional support and value-added services to its clients across a diverse range of asset classes and third-party products. DDCAP is also a provider of automated financial system solutions which directly support those offerings via its proprietary, multi award winning Shari’a compliant financial technology, “ETHOS Asset Facilitation Platform™ ” (ETHOS AFP™).

Gateway Global LLP is a multidisciplinary professional services firm that is exclusively devoted to the Islamic economy. Headquartered in London, Gateway has partners and consultants in 22 countries across 4 continents. Gateway’s professionals are some of the most widely recognised experts in Islamic banking and finance, and have backgrounds in the financial services industry, law, management consultancy, technology and entrepreneurship.