Dubai-based trading app baraka has closed a US$20 million Series A round led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, with participation from investment advisory firm Knollwood.

The company says that the funding will be used for regional licensing and expansion, as well as developing features for regional stock trading, dividend reinvestment, and extended hours trading.

baraka first introduced its commission-free mobile trading platform in early 2021. The app now provides access to over 6,000 US stocks and ETFs, in addition to daily financial news in English and Arabic.

baraka is based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), and is also a part of Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem Hub71.

The company’s previous fundraises include a US$1 million pre-seed round and US$4 million seed round from investors such as Y Combinator, Class 5 Global, Global Founders Capital, and Venture Souq.

“In just one year since our launch, tens of thousands of users have signed up to baraka,”

said Feras Jalbout, Founder & CEO of baraka.

“We’re proud to back the world-class team that’s shaping up at baraka, with our first investment into the Middle East,”

said Andrew McCormack, General Partner at Valar Ventures.