The Global Startup Funding Directory: 450+ VCs, Accelerators & Halal Capital

The short answer: I built a free, searchable Global Startup Funding Directory with 450+ organizations across 10 regions and roughly 59 countries that fund or support startups: VCs, accelerators, incubators, venture studios, angel networks, government programs, and halal/Islamic-finance initiatives. It leans into what the big directories overlook: the widest halal/Sharia-aligned capital coverage anywhere (22 entries) and the fast-growing but under-covered emerging ecosystems of Africa, the Gulf, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. Filter by region, type, sector, stage, location, and halal focus. No sign-up, no paywall.

The problem: finding funding is scattered and slow

If you’ve ever tried to raise money or get into an accelerator, you know the drill. The information is everywhere and nowhere: a VC’s thesis is buried three clicks deep on their site, accelerator deadlines live in scattered blog posts, and “who actually funds my kind of company at my stage” is a question you answer one tab at a time.

It’s harder still if you’re outside the usual hubs, and hardest of all for Muslim founders looking for halal, Shariah-compliant capital. The options exist, but they’re fragmented across dozens of sites, newsletters and word-of-mouth lists, and the big paid databases barely cover them.

So I did what I usually do when something is annoyingly disorganized: I built a tool, and then I kept expanding it until it went global.

What I built

The Global Startup Funding Directory is a free, searchable catalogue of 450+ organizations around the world that put capital or support behind startups. For each one, you get the details that actually matter when you’re deciding who to approach:

• What they fund: investment sectors (SaaS, fintech, AI/ML, cleantech, health/biotech, consumer, hardware, and more)
• What stage: idea, pre-seed, seed, Series A, Series B+, growth
• Check size or program terms: typical investment range, equity taken, or grant/program details
• Location & geography served: where they’re based and where they invest
• Direct links: their website and application/contact page

Every organization also has its own page, and each region and major country has a dedicated page too, so you can go straight from “who funds fintech in Nigeria?” to a shortlist in a couple of clicks.

The wedge: capital the big directories ignore

Crunchbase, PitchBook and the rest are huge, expensive, and built for investors chasing deals in the usual markets. This directory is free, built for founders, and points at the two places those tools go thin:

• Halal / Sharia-aligned capital. Islamic finance is a multi-trillion-dollar system, but no mainstream funding directory curates the funds and platforms that serve founders who need capital aligned with their values. This one has the widest coverage anywhere, 22 entries and counting.
• Underserved emerging ecosystems. Africa, the Gulf, Turkey, Central Asia and Southeast Asia are growing fast and badly covered by Western databases. Central Asia’s venture market alone surged past US$300 million recently, and most founders there piece their options together from scratch.

How it’s organized

The directory covers nine kinds of organizations across 10 regions, so it’s not just a VC list:

You can filter by any of those, plus by region, sector, stage, and a dedicated “Halal / Muslim-focused” toggle, or just type a name, city, or focus into the search box. Prefer to browse a whole region? There are dedicated pages for Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus and Oceania, and country pages for the likes of Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Malaysia, Pakistan, the UK, Germany and Australia.

Before you pitch a VC, it helps to know what actually gets backed. I wrote about why AI is a feature, not a company, and what deep-tech investors really fund.

The halal angle

This part matters to me. 22 entries are explicitly halal / Muslim-focused across five regions, the widest such coverage of any funding directory I’ve found: Shariah-compliant funds and platforms, Islamic-finance providers, Muslim founder communities and faith-based crowdfunding. Among them: Salam Fund, Friday Ventures, Muslim Angel Group, LaunchGood, Pillars Fund, Manzil and EQRAZ in North America; Manafa and Lendo in Saudi Arabia; Ethis, HASAN.VC and ALAMI Sharia in Southeast Asia; Cur8 Capital, Islamic Finance Guru, Qardus and more in the UK; and Jaiz Bank, TAJBank, The Alternative Bank and Lotus Capital serving founders in northern Nigeria. If you want capital that aligns with your values, you can filter straight to them. (If you’re curious why this model is more than a niche, I wrote about why venture capital already runs on Islamic-finance principles.)

How to use it

1. Open the directory.
2. Pick your region (or open your country’s page directly), then filter by type, sector, and stage to match your company.
3. Open the organizations that fit, read the details, and use the website / application links to reach out.
4. Toggle Halal / Muslim-focused if that’s a requirement.

One honest caveat: figures like fund sizes and check sizes are approximate and change constantly, so always verify on the organization’s own site before you apply. Treat the directory as your fast first filter, not gospel.

What’s next

The global build is done, from North America to Africa, Europe, the UK, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia. Now it’s about keeping every entry fresh and going deeper in each market. I verify each organization against official sources, and subscribers get a short monthly note of what’s new. If you run or know a funding organization that should be in here, or you spot something out of date, I’d love to hear it.

→ Browse the full Global Startup Funding Directory