• Saudi Arabia-based social trading platform Dawul has raised $5 million in a Seed round led by RAED Ventures with participation from Impact46, Seedra Ventures, Derayah Venture and Sukna Ventures.
• Founded in 2020 by Mansour Al-Harbi, Dawul is built to help beginner investors look for automated ways to execute trades or follow professional traders and their portfolios and investment strategies. 
• Dawul plans to use the new funds to expand its offers of social trading-related products, as well as expand its network in Mena, the US and the UK while focusing its efforts on recruiting talent in the fintech industry.

Press release:

Riyad-based social trading platform Dawul announced that it has raised $5 million in a Seed round led by RAED Ventures with participation from Impact46, Seedra Ventures, Derayah Venture and Sukna Ventures. The deal, which places Dawul on the global trading map, is considered one of the largest Seed funding rounds for a fintech company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

Dawul platform is the leading platform specialised in social trading. Established in 2020, it acquired a permit from the Saudi Capital Market Authority to conduct financial technology experiments by the end of the same year and was officially launched in July 2021. Dawul is built to help beginner investors keep looking for automated ways to execute trades or, what’s even better, follow professional traders and their portfolios and investment strategies. This way, they can obtain details of the traders’ operations directly and in real-time.

Dawul also introduced the “investment funds” product, which allows users to view the data of investment funds in the Saudi market, and to see all updates and analyses related to their own preferred funds. All this is through alerts and notifications that are sent periodically to help beginners in making decisions regarding the buying and selling of stocks, and the building of their investment portfolios in a transparent and safe manner.

Dawul plans to take advantage of its sizable investment by expanding its offers of social trading-related products, as well as expanding its network in the Middle East and North Africa. The platform aims to target the American and British market with its services while focusing its efforts on recruiting talent in the fintech industry.

“We are excited to move forward with this fund and we expect to be the first choice for traders in the region based on our value, upgrading the investor experience, and improving transparency in the financial sector," said Mr Mansour Al-Harbi, Founder and CEO of Dawul, in response to this funding round.

Mr Al-Harbi believes that the Saudi market is a great opportunity for investors because it is the largest in the Middle East and North Africa region, and one of the 10 largest financial markets in the world. “Our aim at Dawul is to build a global product with Saudi resources. We always welcome Saudi talent who want to prove themselves in the field of fintech and join our company.”

Co-founder of RAED Ventures Mr Talal Alasmari commented on this funding round: "There are enormous opportunities behind the concept of social trading which have not yet been applied in the region. We are pleased to be investing in Dawul platform which is the first to introduce this concept to the Saudi market through a safe and transparent platform, and with the support of the Capital Market Authority to raise awareness among investors. We believe in the ability of the Dawul team to expand and serve  the whole MENA region."

Mr Alasmari added that "the market in Saudi Arabia and the region, in general, is ready and willing to invest, and Mr Al-Harbi's experience, which spans 15 years in the field of developing  technical products in the financial domain, will undoubtedly serve as a foundation for Dawul's growth and expansion."

Mohammed Alnasyan, a senior investment analyst at Impact46, commented on the investment: “Many initiatives from the public and private sectors are raising awareness of the necessity of investing. With the increasing need for both scientific and practical material to delve into this field, Dawul’s business model covers this gap by enabling experts and knowledgeable people in the investment field to share their experience with beginners. We at Impact46 are betting on the experience of Dawul team led by Mr Mansour Al-Harbi.”

As part of its strategy of spreading investor culture, Dawul plans to launch an educational game,” the Japanese candlestick game”. This game aims to educate beginners and enrich their knowledge in analysis methods of market volatility and its risks by making them practice stock price predictions based on stock data and trends of previous sessions. This will help them see results quickly with knowledge of the risks involved in buying and selling stocks.