Dubai-based Zamanat has announced its sponsorship of Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited, a DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) domiciled tokenized private credit fund with a target size of up to $100 million, according to information shared with Finbold on September 10, 2026.
The fund targets a structural gap estimated at $250 billion, the amount of SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) financing demand across the GCC that goes unmet by traditional lenders.
Despite contributing more than half of GDP in the UAE and employing the majority of the private-sector workforce, SMEs in the region receive less than 10% of total bank lending. Across the broader GCC, only around 11% of SMEs have access to any credit at all.
“Strong businesses across the GCC still struggle to access growth capital despite sound fundamentals. Zamanat sponsored the Fund to create a credible route between those businesses and institutional capital. With a target size of up to USD 100 million and interests issued as Investment Tokens, it is our first live proof point for bringing GCC private credit into a regulated digital structure for Professional Clients,” said Umair Tariq, Founder and CEO of Zamanat.
Fund structured on ZIGChain within DFSA-regulated framework
The fund is registered as a Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) regulated closed-ended Exempt Fund, classified as a Credit Fund, and managed by Truleum Venture Partners Limited, with Apex Group providing institutional fund administration.
Fund interests will be issued as ZM1 Investment Tokens on ZIGChain, a Layer 1 blockchain purpose-built for regulated institutional investment products, within a whitelisted environment restricted to investors meeting DFSA Professional Client criteria.
The tokenized structure adds a blockchain-native ownership and settlement layer to the fund without altering its underlying credit profile or investment strategy.
The fund will invest in private credit across the region, targeting companies whose financing needs are not fully met through traditional lending, in line with economic development priorities including Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the UAE Centennial 2071.
“Zamanat is supporting the creation of a new category in Digital Assets. Bringing institutional structure and digital distribution together within a DFSA-regulated framework sets the standard for how this market should be built, and this fund shows the model working at institutional scale. We are proud to support the infrastructure behind it, and we look forward to partnering further on the projects Zamanat already has in motion,” said Peter Hughes, Founder andF CEO, Apex Group.
The fund represents Zamanat’s first live deployment within a broader strategy to build what the company describes as a global market for Digital Shariah Assets, a category it says does not yet exist as an institutional offering.
Global Islamic finance assets are projected to reach $9.7 trillion by 2029, according to LSEG and ICD data, with demand for digital and Shariah-aligned products growing faster than the institutional infrastructure serving them. Zamanat is also developing a separate pipeline of assets across private credit, receivables, and real estate.
Featured image via Shutterstock.
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