The new funding builds on a $500,000 pre-seed round closed in late 2022.

What once seemed like a utopian pitch — that cryptocurrencies could serve as everyday money — is edging closer to real-world use.

The acquisition of Qora71 is part of a wider trend in the Middle East’s startup capital markets: the layering of digitally enabled, community-driven funding models onto regulated investment platforms.

The deal reflects Amazon’s execution of a right first agreed in May 2022, when the U.S. tech giant secured an option to buy $10 million worth of global depositary receipts convertible into equity in ValU — contingent on a qualified offering event, such as today’s listing.