Wahed Raises $5m in Seed Funding

Wahed, a New York-based robo-advisor designed for Shariah-standard, ethical investing, raised $5m in seed funding.

Backers included individual investors
– Khalid Al Jassim, the Managing Partner of Afkar Holdings and founding member at Arcapita, one of the largest Islamic Private Equity firms,
– Nasr-Eddine Benaissa, a former partner at McKinsey & Company who co-founded their Islamic Finance practice and founder of Leonem Capital Partners,
– Laurent Nordin, a Director with McKinsey & Company who created and led their Financial Institutions practice in the Middle East, and
– John Elkhair, a former advisor to the CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority and former Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase.

Led by CEO Junaid Wahedna, Wahed is an automated investment service designed for Shariah-standard, ethical investing. Thhe company has launched its new online platform and lowered the minimum investment required to $500 for clients in the United States.
The Wahed approach to ethical investing in the digital age utilizes a human review panel to screen certain stocks, commodities and other investment types that are not socially responsible or Shariah compliant, before automating algorithm-based investments. Clients will receive a recommended optimized and diversified portfolio based on their own risk tolerance.
Using Wahed, American Muslims can digitally automate long-term, halal investments into securities such as Sukuks and gold, while managing their halal portfolios at a low cost.

It is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and is continually monitored by its Ethical Review Board to ensure Shariah compliance. The board is made up of Sheikh Taha Abdul-Basser, former Islamic Chaplain at Harvard University and Shari’ah Board member of Fajr Capital.

FinSMEs

06/06/2017

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