Zest Equity, the leading digital infrastructure solutions platform for private market transactions, today announced it has secured $4.3 million in pre-series A funding from strategic investors, led by Prosus Ventures with participation from Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures (MSISV).
This investment reinforces Zest Equity’s mission to simplify and digitize private market transaction processes by providing essential infrastructure to streamline execution.
Mission and Traction
Founded in 2021, Zest Equity is on a mission to remove friction from private market transactions. Their vision is to build the go-to trusted platform where clients can step into Zest’s ecosystem to design and select the tools they need to execute their transactions with ease, no matter how complex. Agnostic in their approach, Zest Equity offers solutions for a variety of asset classes and transaction types.
Zest Equity is addressing a crucial gap in the market by initially providing execution solutions for private market transactions, currently focused on those under the $100 million threshold, deals often overlooked by major investment banks.
To date, the company has digitized the execution of over $155 million in transaction value across 115+ pre-agreed deals.
Strategic Deployment of Funds.
“This funding milestone allows us to continue in our mission to remove friction from private market transaction processes,” said Zuhair Shamma, Co-founder and CEO of Zest Equity.
“Prosus Ventures’ deep understanding of emerging markets makes them the ideal partner to accelerate our expansion, while MSISV’s expertise will be key to scaling sustainably and compliantly,” added Rawan Baddour, Co-founder of Zest Equity.
The new funding will be strategically deployed to grow presence in KSA and UAE, acquire specialized talent, develop new products, and scale technology infrastructure to support growing volumes and types of transactions.
“Zest Equity is building the fabric that brings together private markets in emerging economies,” said Robin Voogd, Head of Middle East Investments at Prosus Ventures. “Their vision aligns perfectly with our focus on supporting innovative financial infrastructure in high-growth regions.”
About Zest Equity
Founded in 2021 by Zuhair Shamma and Rawan Baddour, Zest Equity provides digital infrastructure for private market transactions. Headquartered in the UAE, the company is building a proprietary transactional stack to power private market transactions end-to-end.
Their first product enables clients to group their stakeholders into a single legal vehicle (SPV), simplifying and digitizing execution processes while enhancing efficiency and trust in private market transactions across the GCC. For more information, visit zestequity.com
About Prosus Ventures
Prosus Ventures, the investment arm of global consumer internet group Prosus, partners with entrepreneurs to build tech-enabled businesses in high-growth markets. Focused on AI, fintech, e-commerce, blockchain, and more, Prosus Ventures has invested over $1.4 billion in 40+ companies. Its portfolio reaches more than 2 billion customers worldwide, shaping the future of consumer internet. For further information about Prosus, please visit https://www.prosus.com/
