Haball secures $52m funding to grow Islamic finance business

KARACHI: Haball, a Pakistan fintech firm, raised $52 million to expand its shariah-compliant supply chain financing and payments services, the company said on Tuesday.

The funding, led by Zayn VC and Meezan Bank, includes $5 million in equity and $47 million in strategic financing, and will support Haball's growth plans for the country, the company said in a statement.

The money will also help Haball's expansion into the Middle East, starting with Saudi Arabia this year, it added.

"Supply chain finance in Pakistan is nascent but is expected to be worth over $9 billion; driven by the severe financing gap faced by the country’s SMEs — less than 5% can access financing from commercial banks," the company statement said.

Islamic banking and finance has been growing rapidly in Pakistan, the world's second most populous Muslim country, with assets reaching 9,689 billion Pakistani rupees ($34.54 billion)at the end of June 2024, according to the Quarterly Islamic Banking Bulletin released by the State Bank of Pakistan.

The market share of assets and deposits of the Islamic banking sector in the overall banking industry stood at 18.8% and 22.7% respectively.

The central bank has a target of 30% of overall banking assets and deposits to be Islamic by this year, according to its strategic plans for 2023-2028.

Haball says it provides shariah-compliant financing to nearly 8,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as multinationals, in addition to digital invoicing, payment collection, and tax compliance services.

"Haball has processed over $3 billion in payments and disbursed over $110 million in financing — optimising supply chains across the country," said the firm's founder and CEO Omer bin Ahsan.

Islamic finance bans interest payments and pure monetary speculation and can only be used to invest in sharia-compliant assets or portfolios.