Mal
Abu Dhabi fintech founded in 2025 by Abdallah Abu-Sheikh that is building an AI-native Islamic digital bank. It raised USD 230 million in January 2026 and holds in-principle approval for a UAE bank licence.
Industry: Islamic digital banking | Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | Founded: 2025 | Total Funding: USD 230M
About Mal
Mal is an Abu Dhabi fintech developing a mobile-first, AI-native and Shariah-compliant digital banking platform. It was founded in 2025 by entrepreneur Abdallah Abu-Sheikh, who is its founder and chief executive and previously founded the UAE technology group Astra Tech, owner of the Botim app. Gulf News reports that Mal's leadership includes former executives of Revolut and Nubank.
The company plans to cover banking, payments, wealth management and embedded finance, and is aimed at Muslim consumers worldwide and at underbanked communities, a target it places within a global Islamic finance market of about USD 7 trillion. It intends to launch first in the UAE and then expand into the wider Middle East and Asia.
In January 2026 Mal raised USD 230 million in a round led by BlueFive Capital, with strategic investors and family offices participating, as reported by Wamda and confirmed by Zawya. Some coverage describes it as a strategic investment and others as a seed round; TechScoop and others have called it the largest publicly announced seed financing for a fintech in the Middle East and Africa. BlueFive Capital describes itself as an investment platform incorporated in Abu Dhabi Global Market with offices in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and London. The funds are earmarked for product development, licensing and regulatory work, and go-to-market execution. The company has not published customer targets, pricing or a product breakdown.
In May 2026 Mal announced that the Central Bank of the UAE had granted in-principle approval for it to establish a licensed bank. In-principle approval is a step towards full authorisation rather than a live deposit-taking licence, and launch dates and transactional features remain subject to final regulatory sign-off. Mal said the UAE was the first market to grant such approval to an AI-native digital banking platform. It followed the approval with a global consumer waitlist offering referral incentives and priority access tiers.
In October 2026 Mal began a recruitment drive aimed at UAE nationals ahead of its commercial rollout, with an open house at its office in Sky Tower on Al Reem Island, Abu Dhabi, on Monday 19 October, and a dedicated careers portal. The roles span engineering, risk, product and operations, combining artificial intelligence, technology and Islamic finance. Abu-Sheikh presented the drive as a way to involve Emirati talent in building the platform before it scales internationally.
MAGNiTT's review of the first half of 2026 found that Mal and autonomous delivery platform CargoX together raised USD 480 million, more than a third of all MENA venture funding in that period.
Leadership
- Abdallah Abu-Sheikh, Founder and Chief Executive Officer
- Abdallah Abu-Sheikh, Founder and Chief Executive Officer