Maalexi raises $2.8m to build regulated agricultural exchange

In brief: UAE-based agri-fintech Maalexi has closed an oversubscribed $2.8 million round led by Tawuniya, Saudi Arabia's largest insurer, with Global Ventures also taking part. The Maalexi agricultural exchange, branded MAATEX, is billed as the first regulated real-world asset exchange for agriculture, and the company reports a 70% repeat-customer rate and more than 4,000 smart contracts executed.

UAE-based agri-fintech startup Maalexi has closed a $2.8 million oversubscribed round led by Tawuniya, Saudi Arabia’s largest insurer (Tadawul: 8010), the company said. Existing backer Global Ventures and strategic angel investors, including Musaab Hakami, also participated, positioning the startup for a planned Series A.

Founded in 2021 and led by co-founder and CEO Dr. Azam Pasha, Maalexi is building what it describes as the world’s first regulated real-world asset (RWA) agricultural exchange, branded the Maalexi Agricultural Assets Token Exchange (MAATEX). The platform combines AI-driven trade intelligence, IoT-based asset monitoring and blockchain-enforced settlement to verify commodities, price risk dynamically, score counterparties and execute contracts in real time.

Over more than three years of live operations, Maalexi says it has built a verification and risk-management layer for physical agricultural trade spanning four markets: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India and the United States. The company reports a 70% repeat-customer rate and more than 4,000 smart contracts executed and recorded on the Avalanche L1 blockchain. It also lists three published USPTO patents, with three more under review.

The investment is intended to accelerate Maalexi’s regulated exchange infrastructure, aiming to improve transparency, standardisation and efficiency in cross-border agricultural commodity trading through tokenised real-world assets.

Fahad Bin Muammar, chief investment officer at Tawuniya, said Maalexi “has built a disciplined, risk-focused platform that connects physical agricultural trade with emerging digital asset infrastructure.”

The round lands amid a cooler stretch for MENA startup funding through mid-2026, and reflects growing investor interest in ventures that apply blockchain and AI to real-world trade rather than purely digital use cases, as reported by Wamda.

Read more: Adtech startup Journify raises $12 million Series A at fourfold valuation increase

Sources: Maalexi (GlobeNewswire), Wamda

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