The convergence of artificial intelligence and Islamic finance is creating a new generation of financial platforms designed to move beyond traditional digital banking. While fintech has largely focused on improving access, speed, and convenience, a growing number of companies are now exploring how AI can make financial services more personalized, predictive, and ethically aligned.

One of the latest companies pursuing this vision is IMAN Holdings, which has announced an ongoing $100 million capital raise to support the development of its AI-driven Islamic banking platform and accelerate international expansion.

The company plans to use the new capital to strengthen its artificial intelligence capabilities, secure a full Islamic banking license, expand its product portfolio, and establish a stronger presence across the GCC and other international markets.

Building an AI-Native Islamic Banking Platform

Founded in 2020, IMAN Holdings is developing what it describes as an intelligent Islamic financial ecosystem that combines artificial intelligence, behavioral analytics, and Shariah-compliant financial services within a single digital platform.

Unlike conventional banking systems that primarily evaluate historical financial data, IMAN’s approach incorporates behavioral insights and real-time contextual information to better understand how customers interact with money. The company’s AI models are designed to analyze financial behavior alongside traditional banking information, enabling more personalized recommendations and faster financial decision-making.

According to Founder and Group CEO Rustam Rahmatov, the company believes the future of banking lies not simply in digitizing existing financial services but in creating systems capable of understanding customers at a much deeper level.

“The problem with banking is not its access,” Rahmatov said. “It’s the way it was built. It was never built to understand people.”

From Fintech to AI Banking

Before pursuing a full banking license, IMAN first established itself as a Shariah-compliant fintech platform serving customers across Central Asia. Today, the company reports more than one million registered users and over $100 million in assets managed through its platform. Since its launch, IMAN has raised more than $10 million from international venture capital firms and financial institutions.

The company is now targeting more than $250 million in assets under management by the end of 2026 as it prepares for its next stage of growth. Its flagship mobile platform currently combines savings, payments, and investment services into a single digital experience designed around the principles of Islamic finance.

According to Co-Founder and COO Madiyar, the company’s strategy has always centered on understanding customer behavior before building banking products around those insights.

“We didn’t start with a bank,” he explained. “We started with behavior. What we’re building now is the infrastructure that can scale that understanding globally.”

Artificial Intelligence at the Core

Artificial intelligence sits at the heart of IMAN’s long-term strategy. The platform uses AI to analyze transactions, identify behavioral patterns, support financing decisions, and provide personalized financial recommendations. Rather than relying exclusively on traditional credit assessment models, IMAN incorporates alternative data sources to develop a more comprehensive understanding of individual financial circumstances.

The company believes this enables faster and more context-aware financial decisions while improving the customer experience. Shakhzod, Co-Founder and Chief Risk and Data Officer, describes the evolution as moving beyond static financial evaluation toward adaptive financial intelligence.

“The real shift is that the system doesn’t just evaluate you. It learns you.”

IMAN is also developing an AI-powered assistant called Aisha, designed to serve as a conversational financial companion. Instead of navigating multiple menus within a banking application, users will be able to interact naturally with the platform, receiving financial guidance through AI-powered conversations.

According to the company, the objective is to create an experience that feels closer to having a personal financial advisor than simply using a mobile banking application.

“AI shouldn’t sit on top of the interface,” Shakhzod said. “It should be the interface.”

Embedding Shariah Compliance into Technology

One of IMAN’s distinguishing features is its focus on integrating Shariah compliance directly into its technology architecture rather than treating it as a separate review process.

The company says its platform is designed to embed Islamic finance principles into transaction workflows, allowing users to better understand not only financial outcomes but also the structures that support them.

By combining artificial intelligence with transparent compliance mechanisms, IMAN aims to make Islamic financial products easier to understand and more accessible to a broader audience. According to Shakhzod, AI also creates new opportunities to improve transparency. “AI allows us to make compliance visible—not hidden in documents, but embedded into the experience.”

Expanding Across the GCC

Following its success in Central Asia, IMAN is now preparing to expand into the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), where Islamic banking represents one of the world’s most mature financial ecosystems.

The company believes the region’s advanced regulatory environment, high mobile adoption, and growing demand for digital financial services make it a natural next step for international expansion. Beyond consumer banking, IMAN also plans to provide AI-powered infrastructure that enables financial institutions to deliver intelligent Shariah-compliant products more efficiently.

Rather than building a closed ecosystem, the company envisions a connected financial network powered by shared intelligence. “We don’t think the future is one app that owns everything,” said Shakhzod. “It’s an ecosystem of services connected by intelligence.”

Supporting the Next Phase of Growth

The ongoing $100 million capital raise will primarily support three strategic initiatives: securing a full Islamic banking license, expanding the company’s artificial intelligence infrastructure, and accelerating international growth.

The investment will also fund continued product development as IMAN evolves from a fintech platform into what it hopes will become one of the world’s first fully AI-native Islamic banks.

Group CXO and Vice Chairman Jazeer Jamal believes the next generation of financial services will combine ethics, intelligence, and personalization.

“The next billion users won’t adopt traditional banking,” he said. “They will adopt intelligent, ethical banking.”

Shaping the Future of Islamic Finance

The global Islamic finance market continues to expand as demand grows for digital financial services that align with Shariah principles. At the same time, artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing how financial institutions assess risk, personalize products, and engage with customers.

IMAN Holdings is positioning itself at the intersection of these two powerful trends. By combining behavioral intelligence, AI-driven decision-making, and Shariah-compliant financial structures within a single platform, the company aims to redefine what digital Islamic banking can become.

With over one million registered users, a growing asset base, and an ambitious $100 million fundraising initiative underway, IMAN is seeking to build not simply another digital bank, but a new generation of intelligent financial infrastructure designed for the world’s nearly two billion Muslims.

As financial services become increasingly powered by artificial intelligence, IMAN’s vision suggests that the future of banking may be defined not only by technology, but by how well that technology understands the people it serves.

Mohammed Abubakr

Mohammed Abubakr is the Founder & Editor of StartupMuslim.com. Through StartupMuslim, he documents the journeys of Muslim founders across industries, focusing on the challenges they overcome, the vision that drives them, and the impact they create.His work centers on building a narrative layer for the global Muslim startup ecosystem—one that not only highlights success, but also captures the process, discipline, and values behind it. By conducting in-depth interviews and publishing founder stories, he aims to inspire and enable the next generation of Muslim entrepreneurs to think bigger and build with purpose.