Blockchain-based Investment Platform TokenMarket Aims to Raise $350 Million for MENA Startups

Global investment network TokenMarket announces their plans to raise #350 million in funding for regional tech startups and SMEs. The statement came from the company’s CEO, solidifying his decision to invest in the region’s promising startups from the company’s offices in Dubai’s International Financial Centre (DIFC). TokenMarket also plans to expand its operations and launch offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and Morocco in the upcoming months, where it sees a massive capital gap in the region.

Established in Gibraltar in 2017, TokenMarket was created to supply fund-raising tools to blockchain-oriented businesses. The company then moved to the United Kingdom after matching the necessary regulations needed for it to operate by the country’s Financial Conduct Authority. The now-UK-headquartered organisation, token sale and blockchain crowdfunding platform, launched operations at their Dubai offices in August, after obtaining an innovation testing licence from the Dubai Financial Services Authority. The temporary licence is issued to Fin-tech startups allowing them to operate in the DIFC 

“The Middle East and North Africa region has huge untapped potential when it comes to non-traditional ways of raising capital. We will help local startups and growth-stage companies raise money by issuing security tokens,” says Ransu Salovaara, CEO and founder of TokenMarket, to the National. This mission is supported by TokenMarket’s extensive network of investors, boasting over 170,000 investors in 150 countries.

Security tokens are issued to investors as a form of digital bond which leverages blockchain technology, reducing administrative costs and time. Just in case you have no idea what’s blockchain, it is a digital chain of transactions linked using cryptography, which is a method used for safe and secure communications on an open source network. The database in which the information is stored on is a real-time library of records that are almost impossible to tamper with, as each change creates a record. This technology is used to verify and record these transactions without any loose-ends.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), spending on blockchain has been exponentially growing in the region, with a compound rate of over 70% since 2016, and is set to hit the $300 million target by 2021. The company’s efforts were vital in shaping some of the most notable global blockchain-based startups into becoming multi-million-dollar entreprises. With this new initiative, MENA-based blockchain startups can be expected to grow within the region.