Black Manta Capital Partners Moves Into Gulf Private Credit With a Tokenised UAE SME Fund, Its Second Infrastructure Deal in a Month
Updated: Oct 7
Black Manta Capital Partners has launched the SFI SME Credit Pearl Fund offering, a tokenised private-credit product aimed at financing small and medium-sized businesses in the UAE.
The notes are tokenised limited-recourse instruments issued by BMCP Securities S.à r.l., Black Manta's Luxembourg securitisation vehicle, and represented on the Canton Network, the institutional blockchain built by Digital Asset where the firm already operates as a validator. The issuance targets $20 million, with a minimum investment of $125,000 and notes maturing on 16 January 2029, and is restricted to investors who meet the offering's professional eligibility requirements rather than being open to retail investors.
Proceeds are intended for a UAE credit fund that provides short-term financing to local SMEs through a mix of loan notes, sukuk and other credit facilities. Neovision Investment Fund Management, a UAE-regulated manager, runs the underlying fund, while SFI Technologies provides the technical and consultancy work behind the lending. The notes carry an 8 per cent cumulative preferred-return provision, followed by an 80/20 split of excess distributable profits in favour of investors. That is a distribution structure rather than a guaranteed return: payments depend on the underlying fund's realised profits, and Black Manta's own disclaimer on the offering states plainly that investors could lose their entire investment.
Alexander Rapatz, Black Manta's chief executive and co-founder, described the launch on LinkedIn as bringing “ethical, Sharia-friendly investment principles” together with institutional blockchain technology, and credited the project team and the firm's Canton Network partners. The Sharia-friendly description is Black Manta's own characterisation.
The return structure, profit participation tied to the fund's realised performance rather than a fixed-rate loan, is consistent with the way Islamic finance avoids interest-bearing instruments, but the offering carries no visible Sharia board sign-off or independent compliance certification, so the label should be read as the firm's claim rather than a verified designation.
The wider pattern is the more interesting part. This is Black Manta's second announced deal in as many months.
In August it partnered with CanTra as a tied agent under its BaFin-regulated German investment firm, opening access to tokenised fine art starting with a Francis Bacon triptych. The Credit Pearl Fund uses a different entity entirely, its Luxembourg securitisation vehicle, and a different network, Canton rather than the infrastructure behind the CanTra deal, to reach a different asset class and a different region.
What connects them is the model: Black Manta holds the regulatory and technical scaffolding, licences, securitisation vehicles, node operation on Canton, and lets that scaffolding carry products built by other people, whether that is a fine art platform in Europe or an SME lender in the Gulf. It is a company built less around a single product than around being the infrastructure other firms plug into, wherever the next deal happens to sit.
For UK readers, both deals sit outside the UK's own regime. The Credit Pearl Fund is UAE-facing on the lending side and restricted to qualified European professional investors under MiFID II on the raising side; the CanTra fine art offering is EU-passported and does not extend to the UK either. Together they are a useful illustration of how quickly a regulated tokenisation infrastructure firm can move between asset classes and jurisdictions once the underlying licences and vehicles exist, a capability UK platforms will be watching as the FCA's own wholesale tokenisation roadmap and the custody rules due in 2027 take shape.
Key Takeaways
Black Manta launched the tokenised SFI SME Credit Pearl Fund on 1 September 2026, a $20 million UAE private-credit offering issued through its Luxembourg vehicle BMCP Securities S.à r.l. on the Canton Network.
Notes carry an 8 per cent cumulative preferred return plus an 80/20 profit split, a $125,000 minimum investment, and mature 16 January 2029; Black Manta's own disclaimer warns investors could lose their entire investment.
CEO Alexander Rapatz has called it the first Sharia-friendly tokenised credit fund on Canton Network. The profit-participation structure fits Islamic finance principles, but there is no independent Sharia certification visible on the offering, so the description is the firm's own claim.
It is Black Manta's second infrastructure-led tokenisation deal in a month, following the CanTra tied-agent partnership in August, and the pattern points to a firm positioned as regulatory and technical scaffolding for other platforms rather than a single-product marketplace. Neither deal is open to UK or retail investors.
Sources
Credit Pearl Fund product page, Black Manta Capital Partners (blackmanta.capital/credit-pearl-fund)
Alexander Rapatz and Black Manta Capital Partners, LinkedIn, early September 2026
Black Manta Capital Partners ecosystem page, Canton Network (canton.network)
Black Manta Capital Partners and CanTra partner to open regulated access to exceptional real-world assets, NTB, 19 August 2026
How Black Manta got here
Black Manta is not new to regulated tokenisation. The group was founded in Luxembourg in 2018, with its holding company there, a consulting entity in Vienna and a business development arm in Malta. Its Berlin operating company, BMCP GmbH, received a BaFin licence under the MiFID II regime that took effect on 1 August 2019, allowing it to run a platform for multiple security token offerings from Germany within the EU. At the time, the firm said the aim was to give small and medium-sized enterprises, real estate projects, startups and funds new access to capital.
That German licence is what makes the CanTra tied agent arrangement possible. The Credit Pearl Fund draws on a different part of the group: BMCP Securities S.à r.l. issues the notes acting for a dedicated compartment named Credit Pearl Fund. Subscriptions can be made in US dollars, euros or electronic money tokens such as USDC, payments to investors are variable, and principal is due to be repaid at maturity.
What it means for UK founders
The lesson is about sequencing. Black Manta spent several years assembling licences and vehicles before running other firms' products through them. A UK founder planning a tokenised fund or credit product has two broad routes: build that stack, which means FCA authorisation and possibly a place in the Digital Securities Sandbox run by the Bank of England and the FCA, or partner with a firm that already holds the permissions. The second route is faster, but it places the partner's regulatory status and home jurisdiction at the centre of the product, including who can be offered it.
Distribution limits shape the economics too. The Credit Pearl Fund is offered only to European qualified investors who meet the MiFID II Annex II professional client criteria and pass identity checks, and its offering page lists excluded jurisdictions including the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia. A $125,000 minimum and a professional-only audience keep the investor base small. Founders considering a similar structure for UK investors would need to work within the UK financial promotion rules, and may want to take professional advice before any marketing.
Key facts at a glance
Offering period start: 1 September 2026.
Fund manager and administrator of the underlying UAE fund: Neovision Investment Fund Management L.L.C.
Eligible investors: European qualified investors meeting MiFID II Annex II professional client criteria.
Subscription currencies: US dollars, euros or electronic money tokens such as USDC.
Black Manta's BaFin licence for its Berlin entity took effect on 1 August 2019.
Further reading
Frequently asked questions
What is the Black Manta SFI SME Credit Pearl Fund?
It is a tokenised private-credit offering from Black Manta Capital Partners that finances small and medium-sized businesses in the UAE. The notes are issued by its Luxembourg securitisation vehicle, BMCP Securities S.à r.l., and represented on the Canton Network, with a $20 million target.
What are the terms of the Credit Pearl Fund notes?
The notes have a $125,000 minimum investment, mature on 16 January 2029, and carry an 8 per cent cumulative preferred-return provision followed by an 80/20 split of excess profits in favour of investors. Payments depend on the underlying fund's realised profits, and Black Manta's disclaimer states investors could lose their entire investment.
Is the Black Manta Credit Pearl Fund certified as Sharia compliant?
Black Manta describes it as Sharia-friendly, and its profit-participation structure is consistent with Islamic finance principles. However, the offering shows no visible Sharia board sign-off or independent certification, so the label is the firm's own claim.
Can UK or retail investors invest in the Black Manta Credit Pearl Fund?
No. The offering is restricted to qualified European professional investors under MiFID II and is not open to retail or UK investors.
What was Black Manta's previous tokenisation deal?
In August 2026 Black Manta partnered with CanTra as a tied agent under its BaFin-regulated German investment firm, opening access to tokenised fine art starting with a Francis Bacon triptych.
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