Zameeli lands Sharia-compliant financing from Sharakah
What's the deal? ZameeliDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an Omani digital platform that connects small and medium-sized enterprises with local freelancers, has secured an undisclosed Sharia-compliant financing facility from SharakahDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Oman's SME development company.
Founded in 2023 by Tariq Al Habsi and Mahmoud Tantora, Zameeli offers SMEs on-demand access to Omani freelancers across design, marketing, videography, content creation, and social media management.
The debt financing will go toward upgrading Zameeli's technology, improving user experience, growing its SME customer base and freelancer network, and funding marketing and geographic expansion across Oman.
Why now? Oman's digital economy is gaining momentum, and local platforms like Zameeli sit at the intersection of several national priorities: entrepreneurship, job creation, and SME development. Sharakah's involvement signals institutional confidence in homegrown tech platforms as engines of that growth.
What could go wrong? Zameeli is still early-stage — founded just two years ago — and operates in a relatively small domestic market. Scaling a freelance marketplace requires building liquidity on both sides: enough freelancers to attract SMEs, and enough SMEs to retain freelancers. Without disclosed financials, it's hard to gauge how far this facility will stretch.
The signal: Zameeli is early stage by Dealroom's classification, and Sharakah's backing underscores a pattern of Gulf government-linked investment funds stepping in as first financiers for homegrown digital platforms rather than waiting for private venture capital to lead. For a freelance marketplace operating in a small domestic market, that institutional anchor matters — it provides runway to build network liquidity before commercial traction alone could justify it.
Read more: Wamda
