Zest Equity raises $4.3M pre-Series A to digitize private market deals across emerging markets

Most private market deals under $100 million get ignored by big investment banks. For founders and investors trying to close these transactions, it often means dealing with messy spreadsheets, scattered emails, and slow-moving legal paperwork. That’s where Zest Equity comes in.

Zest Equity announced Monday it has raised $4.3 million in pre-Series A funding. The round was led by Prosus Ventures, with participation from Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures (MSISV).

Founded in 2021 by Zuhair Shamma and Rawan Baddour, the UAE-based startup is building digital infrastructure that makes private market transactions easier to manage, faster to execute, and more transparent. The company lets clients group stakeholders into a single legal vehicle (SPV), cutting down the back-and-forth and bringing more structure to deals that typically get buried under manual work.

The new funding will be used to grow its presence in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, hire more specialized talent, launch new products, and strengthen its backend to support more transaction types and higher deal volumes.

“We’re focused on removing friction from private market transactions,” said Zuhair Shamma, Co-founder and CEO of Zest Equity. “This funding milestone allows us to keep doing that at scale.”

So far, Zest Equity has helped digitize more than $155 million in deal value across 115+ transactions. The company is zeroing in on the mid-tier deal market—transactions too small for major banks but still complex enough to require structured execution.

“Prosus Ventures’ deep understanding of emerging markets makes them the ideal partner to accelerate our expansion, while MSISV’s expertise will be key to scaling sustainably and compliantly,” said co-founder Rawan Baddour.

Robin Voogd, Head of Middle East Investments at Prosus Ventures, called Zest Equity “the fabric that brings together private markets in emerging economies,” and said the company’s mission aligns closely with Prosus’ focus on financial infrastructure in high-growth regions.

Prosus Ventures has invested over $1.4 billion in more than 40 companies across AI, fintech, e-commerce, and blockchain. Its portfolio spans over 2 billion customers globally.

Zest Equity is betting that as more private capital flows through emerging markets, especially in the GCC, there will be growing demand for a cleaner, faster way to close deals—and it wants to be the default platform those transactions run on.

From left to right_ Zuhair Shamma, Rawan Baddour, Co-founders of Zest Equity.