HASAN.VC is Building the Camels the Halal Economy Needs

Most of venture capital is hunting unicorns. HASAN.VC is building camels, and the halal economy is better for it

At HalalWallet, we spend our days helping Muslims find financial products they can trust. But the products people use tomorrow depend on the founders who get funded today. That is why we pay close attention to the investors backing halal and ethical startups, and why HASAN.VC is near the top of our list.

ASAN.VC is a venture capital fund based in Malaysia that invests in companies driven by ethics and purpose. It is ‘people-powered’ i.e. backed by its angel group that spans several continents, and to date it has invested in more than 40 halal and ethical tech startups from Southeast Asia and emerging regions. Its General Partner, Umar Munshi, has become one of the clearest voices on how early-stage investing can work for founders who will not compromise on their values.

In June 2026, HASAN.VC reached a milestone: the fourth and final accelerator cohort of its first fund graduated in Bandung, Indonesia, closing a programme that has now supported 120 startups and nearly 500 founders.

Camels, not unicorns

Silicon Valley's model rewards startups that burn cash for growth and hope to become billion-dollar unicorns. Plenty of them never survive the first drought. HASAN.VC has openly questioned that model and backs what it calls camel startups: companies built for resilience and long-term impact, not fast burn.

"We built this model to back camel startups: resilient, capital-efficient businesses built to last rather than built to impress," says Umar Munshi.

It is a natural fit for founders building to halal principles. A business that avoids excessive debt, grows on real revenue and serves its customers honestly is exactly the kind of company that keeps going when markets turn.

You can see it in the portfolio. GoBarakah, in Malaysia, turns donations into digital e-vouchers, so donors can track where their money goes and recipients keep their dignity. Qara'a, in Indonesia, uses AI voice recognition to help people learn to read the Quran with correct tajweed. Hirix, in Malaysia, is building an AI-native recruitment platform that helps employers source, screen, interview and verify candidates. Each one solves a real problem for real users.

The track record, by the numbers (as of June 2026)

HASAN.VC has backed its thesis with real work:

• 120 startups and nearly 500 founders supported across four accelerator cohorts, from more than 10 countries.
• 40+ startups backed including 3 Strategic side investments into mature startups.
• Fund I's final cohort graduated in June 2026 at a Demo Day at Block71 Innovation Factory in Bandung, Indonesia. The cohort before it, in October 2025, filled the Asia School of Business in Kuala Lumpur with nearly 50 startups.
• A venture studio in Kota Bharu, Malaysia, launched in 2025 to co-build AI-native startups with values-driven founders from Kelantan and the East Coast, with up to RM380,000 (about USD 90,000) in pre-seed funding on offer for the strongest ventures.

That last point says a lot. Instead of waiting for great founders to show up in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, HASAN.VC is going out to find and build them, in places most investors overlook.

Why this matters if you are not a founder

You might never pitch an investor. But every halal app, fund and banking product you use started as a founder's idea that someone chose to back. When investors like HASAN.VC fund values-driven founders, the result is more choice, better products and more competition for your trust.

Our own research points the same way. Muslim consumers want to invest, want strict Shariah screening and want products they can understand and rely on. Meeting that demand takes builders who care about getting it right, and investors patient enough to let them.

HASAN.VC is one of those investors. We are glad the halal economy has it in its corner, and we cannot wait to see what its camels build next.