Zelo (Formerly eFunder): IHC Acquires an Abu Dhabi Invoice-Financing Platform for SMEs

International Holding Company (IHC) completed its acquisition of eFunder, a UAE private financing platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in July 2025 and renamed it Zelo. The announcement was reported by the Emirates News Agency (WAM) and by Enterprise. The price was not disclosed in the reports we reviewed.

What the platform does

Zelo offers invoice financing, also called factoring: a business that is waiting to be paid by its customers can receive cash against its unpaid invoices instead of waiting weeks or months. The company describes its services on its website. The terms, fees and eligibility are set by the company and should be checked there, and we have not independently verified them.

Regulation and track record

According to the announcement coverage, Zelo is licensed and regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and has operated since August 2020. The company says it has deployed more than $200 million in funding since launch. That figure is the company’s own and we have not verified it independently.

Leadership

The announcement says co-founders Dhanush Arjun and Deepak Sekar continue to oversee operations after the acquisition. IHC’s chief executive, Syed Basar Shueb, said the deal supports SMEs’ access to working capital.

Why it matters

SMEs often wait for customers to pay their invoices, and a platform that advances cash against those invoices addresses a working-capital gap. IHC, a large Abu Dhabi group, described the acquisition as part of supporting that need. Whether Zelo can grow its volumes under IHC will be visible in its published results, which we will report if they appear.

What we could not confirm

We could not find a published source for earlier versions of this article’s statements about the platform’s founder, its competitive ranking, its office location or customer outcomes, so we have removed them.