Based in Seattle, digital investment manager Aghaz Investments has the bold yet humble dream of serving the growing North American community with Shariah compliant investment services, an offering that is sorely lacking in the US. The young company, founded in early 2020, joins the small but growing community of Islamic fintech start-ups in the US looking to fill this gap.
While it is easy to pit Aghaz Investments against the likes of more established Islamic robo-advisors such as Wahed Invest, Aghaz Investments is growing at its own pace. After securing US$400,000 in pre-seed funding about half a year ago, the start-up has formed a partnership with DriveWealth, a global brokerage infrastructure platform.
Through the collaboration, Aghaz Investment will be utilizing DriveWealth’s portfolio management system, Autopilot, to offer portfolio customization functions to its users.
“Autopilot gives our partners the ability to customize the investing experience based on their customers’ investing goals and preferences and rebalance automatically,” explained Bob Cortright, the founder and CEO of DriveWealth. “Aghaz Investments presents consumers with a unique opportunity to reach their financial goals in a way that is personal to them without compromising their values.” This includes saving for Hajj or Umrah or making large purchases such as a house or vehicle. Aghaz Investment’s core target market are US-based Muslims, but the firm has plans to gradually build its product suite to also cater and be more palatable to value-driven investors looking to invest on considerations such as climate change and equality.