Mal, the Abu Dhabi-based fintech founded by Abdallah Abu-Sheikh, is building what it describes as the world’s first AI-native Islamic digital financial platform.
The company is backed by a $230M seed round, which it says is the largest publicly announced fintech seed investment in the Middle East and Africa. Mal also received in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE in May 2026 to establish a licensed bank.
Rather than adding AI features to existing banking products, Mal is embedding the technology across its platform, operating model and core architecture. The goal is to connect services such as spending, saving, financing, investing and wealth management in one experience for individuals and businesses.
Abu-Sheikh said the platform is designed to help customers better understand their financial activity and make more informed decisions. Mal is also applying Islamic finance principles to areas including pricing, financing, risk and wealth protection, while exploring how emerging products such as digital assets should be assessed.
Before founding Mal, Abu-Sheikh built technology companies including Astra Tech and Botim. He said those experiences reinforced his view that startups should begin with recurring customer problems rather than the technology used to solve them.
Source: BizBahrain
