Key Takeaways
- Maalexi has closed an oversubscribed funding round led by Tawuniya, a Saudi joint-stock company listed on Tadawul (8010), and Global Ventures, a UAE-based VC firm and Maalexi's pre-Series A lead investor.
- The company is developing what it describes as the world's first regulated real-world asset (RWA) agricultural exchange — the Maalexi Agricultural Assets Token Exchange (MAATEX) — focused on verification, standardization, and transparency in cross-border agricultural trade.
- Over 36 months of live operations, Maalexi has executed more than 4,000 smart contracts recorded on the Avalanche L1 blockchain across four markets: UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, and the United States.
- The company holds 3 patents published with the USPTO and has a further 3 under review for publication this year.
- Maalexi argues that cross-border agricultural commodity markets have lacked a viable exchange structure due to fragmented, unverified, and non-standardized underlying trade — a gap its platform is built to close.
Maalexi Closes Oversubscribed Round With Tawuniya Leading
Agricultural trade infrastructure company Maalexi has closed an oversubscribed funding round led by Tawuniya — a Saudi joint-stock insurance company listed on the Saudi Exchange under ticker 8010 — alongside Global Ventures, the UAE-based venture capital firm that also led Maalexi's pre-Series A. The round backs the development of MAATEX, the Maalexi Agricultural Assets Token Exchange, which the company positions as the world's first regulated real-world asset agricultural exchange.
Maalexi‘s platform is designed to bring verification, standardization, and transparency to cross-border agricultural trade — a market the company says has historically operated without the infrastructure needed to support an exchange model.
What MAATEX Is and Why It Matters for Agricultural Trade
Cross-border agricultural commodity trading has long lacked a structured exchange because the underlying trade flows are fragmented, difficult to verify independently, and inconsistently documented. Maalexi has spent three years building the verification and risk management layer it says must exist before an exchange can function reliably — executing more than 4,000 smart contracts recorded on the Avalanche L1 blockchain, achieving 70% repeat customer rates, and operating across four markets: UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, and the United States.
The company now holds 3 patents published with the USPTO, with a further 3 under review for publication this year. MAATEX is described as the exchange layer being built on top of this operational base — connecting physical agricultural commodity trade with digital asset infrastructure under a regulated framework.
Tawuniya's Rationale for Leading the Round
“At Tawuniya, we back businesses that strengthen financial infrastructure and improve market resilience. Maalexi has built a disciplined, risk-focused platform that connects physical agricultural trade with emerging digital asset infrastructure. We believe its regulated exchange model can improve transparency, efficiency and market access across global agricultural trade,” said Fahad Bin Muammar, Chief Investment Officer of Tawuniya.
Maalexi CEO on the Significance of the Round
“This round marks an important milestone for Maalexi. Tawuniya's leadership in this round reflects growing institutional confidence in our platform and in the opportunity to modernize agricultural trade infrastructure. Over the past three years, we have shown that physical agricultural trade can be verified, standardized and executed with lower risk. We are now building the exchange layer on top of that foundation,” said Dr. Azam Pasha, Co-Founder and CEO of Maalexi.
The raise positions Maalexi to move from its established trade operations into the exchange buildout, backed by institutional capital from a listed Saudi financial institution and a UAE-based agtech-focused venture firm — a combination that reflects the growing interest in regulated digital infrastructure for agricultural markets across the Gulf region.
