Zest Your Equity | 13-November-2024

This week’s agenda 📜

• Benefits of using an escrow provider ✍️

• Who’s raising? 💰

• M&A activity 📜

• What we’re reading 📖

• Zest Updates

Let’s dive in 👇

Our newest blog ✍️

If you’ve ever made a deal with someone and you weren’t sure that they were going to follow through with their end of the arrangement, then you know why escrow providers exist. 

Historically, this is how most financial transactions were made — a buyer or investor would wire funds to the seller or issuer without complete confidence that they would hold up their side of the bargain and that their representations during due diligence were truthful and accurate. 

Today, this risk is limited by using an escrow provider during a transaction. An escrow provider is a type of company that acts as a neutral third party in private market transactions to hold certain funds related to the transaction until both sides meet their contractual obligations in the deal. 

In addition to mitigating counterparty risk, escrow providers introduce many transaction-related benefits to stakeholders, such as custodying funds before dedicated bank accounts are set up or if a transaction is delayed for ongoing negotiations or simply for procedural reasons. 

Read more about the purpose of escrow providers in our latest blog.

Who’s Raising? 💰

• A Saudi Arabia-based FinTech infrastructure platform, Lean Technologies, has raised $67.5m in its latest Series B funding round.

• 🇦🇪 UAE-based device trade-in platform NorthLadder has closed its Series B at $10 million, led by stc Group’s tali ventures, Dutch Founders Fund and Crescent Ventures.

• 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia-based Mush Social has secured $1.2 million in a pre-Seed round led by Nifal Consulting, with support from Nahr Al-Jazeera Holding, along with other angel investors.

• Saudi Arabia-based Mush Social has secured $1.2 million in a pre-Seed round led by Nifal Consulting, with support from Nahr Al-Jazeera Holding, along with other angel investors.

• 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia-based proptech ARKTECH has closed a $1 million pre-Seed investment round, led by Core Vision Investment.

M&A activity 📜

• 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia-based proptech Ayen has acquired the Egyptian contech Elmawkaa in a SAR seven-figure transaction that will see Ayen integrate Elmawkaa’s construction materials marketplace into its property evaluation platform. Source.

Want to learn more? Schedule a time with our team below!