Both sides of the table. Fund certification and portfolio screening for investors; structuring and investment readiness for founders.
The problem
The standard toolkit of early-stage venture, convertible notes, discounts, valuation caps, liquidation preferences, anti-dilution, was designed to solve the problem of pricing a company too early to price. Several of those solutions sit awkwardly with Shariah, and some do not sit at all.
Founders discover this late, usually when an Islamic investor asks a question nobody has asked before, and by then the cap table has three instruments in it that cannot be unwound cheaply. The work is far easier before the first round than after the third.
Convertible notes
Debt with an equity conversion feature
Discounts and caps
Pricing mechanisms built for conventional risk
Liquidation preferences
Priority claims that sit awkwardly with equity risk-sharing
By the third round
Structures that are expensive to unwind
What we do
Fund structure, agreements and the methodology by which the fund engages investors and portfolio companies.
Every company screened before funding, and reviewed as it grows.
Annual audit of the fund and its portfolio.
Advising founders on Shariah-compliant instruments, cap table structures and investment readiness before an Islamic investor asks.
Our Shariah-compliant alternative to the Simple Agreement for Future Equity.
Why ADL
Our team pairs certified Muftis holding AAOIFI qualifications with people who understand code, systems and product architecture. We hold Malaysia Digital Status from the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation, a technology credential, held by a Shariah advisory firm. Where there is an app, we go into it. Where there is a core banking system, we review the configuration.
Registered Shariah Adviser with the Securities Commission Malaysia and with Labuan Financial Services Authority.
We work primarily against AAOIFI standards and reconcile with the applicable local regime. An opinion grounded in AAOIFI travels across borders.
Beyond applying Islamic finance standards, our team has been commissioned by a standard-setting body: research towards a governance standard, participation in the drafting of a preliminary standard, and a series of training assignments.
Auditing against another adviser's pronouncement is ordinary work for us, as is being audited by another firm. Independence is the point of the exercise.
We work in jurisdictions with mature Islamic finance regulation and in markets with none at all, where the structure has to satisfy Shariah while operating entirely within a conventional rulebook.
Best Shariah Advisory in Islamic Asset Management, presented in Jeddah in February 2026.
Members of our team hold Shariah board and committee seats across the institutions we serve, so our advisory work is informed by governance experience, not only by external review.
How we hold ourselves
Our measure of a good year is not only revenue. It is whether we helped one more business get to halal. That is why we will take a call from a founder at ideation stage, and why our pricing bends to what a client can actually carry. We would rather a small platform get its structure right at the start than be priced out and get it wrong at scale.
A business built on an Islamic label still has to be a good business. Sound fundamentals, capable people, honest disclosure, and a high standard of compliance with local regulation, because that is what protects the customer and the investor. Shariah compliance sits on top of that foundation. It is not a substitute for it, and we will say so if we see it being treated as one.
The Lifecycle
Compliance is a state you maintain rather than a certificate you obtain, and the audit cycle is how you maintain it.
We understand the fund structure and the cap table before we quote.
Scope, timeline and fee agreed, agreement signed.
The deep stage: the fund agreements, the instruments used, the cap table, and the founder's own structuring.
Findings returned and worked through with the fund manager or the founder; the structure is adjusted.
Issued by a certified Mufti.
Issued under a reference any counterparty can verify independently.
For a venture fund the cycle runs for as long as it is investing: the fund and its portfolio are re-tested every year, and every time a new company is funded.
We commit to two to four weeks for a first pronouncement. In practice it often runs longer, and in our experience the reason is the round trip rather than the review. We raise amendments, and your product and engineering teams need time to work through them. We would rather set that expectation now than surprise you in week three.
Engagements are scoped and priced individually. We have worked with funds raising their first close and with founders before their first round. One size does not fit all. Tell us what you are building and we will tell you what it takes.
Evidence
An Islamic venture capital fundWe certified the fund, reviewed all its agreements and the methodology by which it engages both investors and startups, screen every startup that receives funding, and carry out ongoing Shariah audit. This engagement runs the complete lifecycle, certification, ongoing screening, annual audit, and is the clearest demonstration of how our advisory and audit work fit together.
Questions
Yes. Founder-side advice is cheaper and far more effective before the first round than after the third, and much of what we do is preventing structures that will need unwinding later.
In its conventional form, generally not. It is debt with an equity conversion feature, and the discount mechanism compounds the difficulty. Alternatives exist, which is why we developed SAFE-i.
For funds, before the first close. For founders, before the first round. A structure found not to work after the cap table has three instruments in it is far more expensive to fix than one caught at term-sheet stage.
A pronouncement is the scholarly ruling, the reasoned opinion that a fund or instrument, as described, complies. A certification is the instrument that evidences it, carrying a reference your counterparties can check. The pronouncement is the judgment; the certificate is the proof.
Both, typically. The fund is certified once; each portfolio company is screened before it receives funding, and reviewed again as it grows.
It varies by client. Some stay with us for ongoing screening and audit as the portfolio grows; others come back only when a new instrument or round raises a fresh question. Both are normal, and we would rather set the arrangement to what you actually need than sell a retainer you do not.
Our certification confirms Shariah compliance. It is not an assessment of whether a business is viable, whether its financials are sound, or whether the people running it can execute. Look at both questions, and do your own due diligence on the second. Every ADL certificate carries a reference you can check independently.
Book a consultation, whether you are raising a fund or building a cap table. We will tell you at the first meeting whether the structure holds.