41. baraka *
Total funding: $25 million
Investment platform
Founders: Feras Jalbout, Kunal Taneja
Nationality: Canadian, Indian
Investors: Valar Ventures, Knollwood Investment Advisory, Y Combinator, FJ Labs, VentureSouq, Class 5 Global, Global Founders Capital, Raptor Hold Co LLC
Headquarters: U.A.E.
Date of establishment: 2020
baraka is a commission-free investment app that allows users to invest in over 6,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs without a minimum investment amount. The Robinhood-like startup operates in the DIFC, with plans for expansion across MENA. In 2022, baraka secured $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Valar Ventures. Cofounder and CEO Feras Jalbout was previously an investor at a family office and worked in banking at Barclays and Standard Chartered, while cofounder and CTO Kunal Taneja headed several departments at the digital payment and Fintech solutions company Arab Financial Services.