Zamanat Launches Tokenized Private Credit Fund to Address GCC SME Funding Gap

Dubai, UAE, September 10th, 2026, Chainwire: Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited serves as the firm's initial operational demonstration of regulated fund tokenization on ZIGChain, concentrating on GCC private credit.

Zamanat has announced its sponsorship of Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited (the “Fund”), a DIFC-registered tokenized private credit fund with a targeted maximum size of USD 100 million. The Fund addresses the GCC's estimated $250 billion SME financing shortfall; across the region, merely 11 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises have credit access.

Closing a $250 billion structural gap in GCC SME credit

Across the GCC, SMEs are key to economic expansion yet stay notably underserved by conventional financing channels. In the UAE, SMEs generate over half of GDP and account for most private-sector employment, yet they receive under 10 percent of all bank loans.

The Fund will deploy funds in private credit throughout the region, funneling capital into robust local businesses that cannot fully satisfy their financing requirements through standard lending avenues. The approach backs national ambitions to boost SME involvement, private-sector growth, and alternative finance availability, including targets under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the UAE Centennial 2071.

“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.

Bringing GCC private credit into digital markets

Tokenization broadens the infrastructure around conventional hard-to-access private-market assets while leaving the base investment and credit profile unchanged.

The Fund merges a private regional credit approach, a DIFC fund structure, institutional management, and digital issuance on ZIGChain. It offers a first live demonstration of how regional private credit can move into a DFSA-regulated tokenized framework for Professional Clients.

The Fund is a DFSA-regulated closed-ended fund registered as an Exempt Fund and categorized as a Credit Fund. Truleum Venture Partners Limited manages it, and Apex Group handles administration. Fund interests will be issued as ZM1 Investment Tokens on ZIGChain within a controlled, whitelisted environment.

Zamanat, as sponsor, contributes its expertise in regional private credit, investment structuring, and institutional collaboration to the Fund’s development. Truleum holds accountability for all regulated fund-management tasks.

The ZM1 Investment Token layer allows qualifying investors meeting the DFSA Professional Client criteria to join alongside institutional participants.

Disrupt.com, a MENA-based operator-driven AI-native venture builder and lead investor, backs Zamanat in the business.

Building the global market for Digital Shariah Assets

Global Islamic finance assets are projected to hit $9.7 trillion by 2029. Demand for digital and Shariah-aligned holdings is rising faster than the institutional infrastructure linking them to international capital.

Zamanat continues building the global marketplace for Digital Shariah Assets. The broader model uses investment structuring, Shariah knowledge, regulated partner routes, and digital distribution to bring physical-world assets to market through both conventional and digital channels.

The DIFC-based Fund demonstrates the regulated fund-tokenization, digital ownership, and partner-orchestration capability inherent in that broader framework. Zamanat is advancing a separate set of Digital Shariah Assets across private credit, receivables, real estate and more.

Institutional partnerships

Apex Group serves as Fund Administrator, offering institutional fund administration and controls from the start.

“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 & CEO, Apex Group.

The global institutional market for Digital Shariah Assets does not yet exist. Zamanat is building it.

Notes to Editors

Sources

LSEG and ICD, 2025 Islamic Finance Development Indicator Report, 14 October 2025 (global Islamic finance assets projected to reach $9.7 trillion by 2029); World Bank, Competition in the GCC SME Lending Markets: An Initial Assessment (estimated $250 billion GCC SME credit gap; 11 percent of SMEs with access); Kearney, GCC Retail Banking Radar 2024.

Investor notice

This communication as related to Zamanat Fund CEZ Limited is approved by Truleum Venture Partners Limited in the DIFC.

This release is for information only. It is not an offer, invitation or recommendation to subscribe for interests in Zamanatan Fund CEZ Limited or acquire ZM1 Investment Tokens. Any participation will be made only through the Fund Manager, final offering documents and applicable Professional Client eligibility requirements. For the avoidance of uncertainty, this communication is directed exclusively to investors meeting the qualifications to be considered Professional Clients under the Dubai Financial Services Authority Conduct of Business Rulebook, Rule 2.3.3. The Fund is an ‘Exempt Fund’. Accordingly, the ZM1 Investment Tokens are available only to Professional Clients.

This release and the information contained herein does not constitute, and is not intended to constitute, a public offer of securities in any other jurisdiction and accordingly should not be construed as such. The ZM1 Investment Tokens are only available to a limited number of investors from the DIF Professional. The ZM1 Investment Tokens have not been approved by or licensed or registered with any other relevant licensing authority or governmental agency. No transaction will be concluded in mainstream UAE outside the DIFC.

The Fund is not an Islamic Fund and is not marketed as Shariah-compliant. Reference to Shariah in this release relate to Zamanat's broader platform and market ambition, not to the Fund.

About Zamanat

Zamanat is building the global market for Digital Shariah Assets. The company connects asset originators with global capital through investment structuring, Shariah expertise, regulated partner routes, tokenization and distribution across traditional and digital channels.

Zamanat also sponsors and develops institutional investment products through appropriately licensed partners. Each product follows its own legal and regulatory framework and, where presented as aligned with Shariah, its own product-specific Shariah review and governance process.

Contact

Global Head of PR & Communications

Katarzyna Kosior

disrupt.com

info@zamanathq.com