Dubai-based baraka, a commission-free investment app that lets Middle Eastern users invest in US stocks and ETFs, raised a $20M Series A led by Valar Ventures
Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
baraka's raise lands in a crowded moment for Middle Eastern retail investing: within weeks of each other in early 2022, Egypt's Thndr pulled in a $20M Series A led by Tiger Global and social-investing app Shares announced a $40M Series A led by Valar Ventures. With this round, Valar is now doubling down on the same thesis across two of those startups.
The template these founders are chasing was proven in another emerging market: Indonesian trading app Ajaib went from a Series A extension to a $153M Series B at a $1B valuation with Robinhood backers Ribbit, Iconiq, and IVP joining — evidence that Western growth capital will follow commission-free retail trading into new regions.
First-order effects
- baraka gets $20M to scale its US-stocks-and-ETFs offering for Middle Eastern users, entering a regional land grab where Thndr and Shares raised comparable or larger Series A rounds in the same quarter.
Second-order effects
- Valar Ventures now holds stakes on both sides of the region's retail-investing race (Shares and baraka), concentrating top-tier Western capital behind a small set of MENA contenders and squeezing out underfunded copycats.
Third-order effects
- If the Ajaib arc repeats, MENA trading apps face pressure to consolidate or scale fast toward unicorn territory as the same Robinhood-affiliated investors rotate from Southeast Asia to the Middle East.
The trend: US-style commission-free retail investing is being re-created market by market across emerging economies, funded by a recurring cast of Western venture firms.