FundedNext and FundingPips Headline Deloitte’s Middle East Fast 50 as Prop Trading Cements Tech Status
Prop trading just earned a fresh badge of legitimacy from one of the world’s largest professional services firms. Deloitte’s fifth annual Middle East and Cyprus Technology Fast 50 ranking has placed two UAE-based proprietary trading firms among the region’s fastest-growing tech companies, with FundedNext landing the number two slot on the main list and FundingPips topping the Rising Star category at fourth.
The recognition is significant. The Fast 50 is judged on four-year revenue growth, and average growth across this year’s main cohort came in at a staggering 12,643% — up from 8,823% the prior edition. For prop firms to land near the very top of a list that spans every flavor of regional fintech, software, and healthcare innovation says something about how rapidly the industry has scaled in just a few years.
FundedNext Lands Second Overall on the Main Fast 50
FundedNext, founded in 2022 and headquartered in the UAE, was placed second on Deloitte’s main Fast 50 list, behind only Emirati healthcare operator Valeo Health. That slot also makes FundedNext the highest-ranked fintech on the entire main ranking, ahead of UAE robo-advisor Sarwa in third.
The firm has scaled rapidly under chief executive Syed Abdullah Jayed. According to FundedNext’s own monthly disclosures, the company has paid out more than $271 million to traders since launch, with $15.19 million distributed in February 2026 alone across 8,340 traders. FundedNext was also named Global Prop Firm of the Year at the Finance Magnates Annual Awards 2025.
The Deloitte placement caps a year of aggressive product expansion. FundedNext launched a futures brand for US clients in April 2025, relaunched CFD prop trading for US traders on the Match Trader platform in November, and set up a brokerage division called FNmarkets that has filed license applications in Dubai, Mauritius, and Cyprus. Commenting on the recognition through its official social channels, the firm said the focus on infrastructure from day one is what drove the placement.
FundingPips Tops the Rising Star List at Number Four
FundingPips, also founded in 2022 and based in the UAE, claimed fourth place on Deloitte’s Rising Star list — the category that recognizes companies trading for fewer than three years. Notably, FundingPips was the only company across either list that Deloitte tagged specifically under the “Prop Trading” label rather than the broader “Fintech” bucket. That signals the consultancy is starting to view prop firms as their own subsegment rather than a sleeve of CFDs.
The firm has reported roughly $160 million in distributed payouts since launch and now sits among the most active prop firms by trader payout volume. For reference, FundingPips recently disclosed $11.5 million in trader payouts during March 2026, with gold dominating activity on the platform.
Saudi-based companies dominated the Rising Star category overall, but FundingPips’ fourth-place finish makes it the highest-ranked fintech in that group. Together with FundedNext’s main-list placement, that gives UAE prop firms two of the most prominent slots on Deloitte’s regional rankings this year.
UAE Cements Itself as the Hub for Prop Trading Growth
The geographic split in Deloitte’s data tells its own story. The UAE contributed 34% of all Fast 50 applications, ahead of Saudi Arabia at 26% and Cyprus at 14%. Across both the main list and Rising Star list combined, Cyprus accounted for 18% of applications. Software firms made up 38% of the total field and fintech 22%, with the program drawing more than 200 submissions in total.
That mix tracks with what is happening at the corporate-formation level. Over the past two years, the UAE has attracted a steady stream of license applications and headquarter relocations from CFD brokers, prop firms, and fintech infrastructure providers. Deloitte’s data effectively confirms what industry observers have been saying for months: the Gulf is no longer a peripheral market for retail trading — it is becoming the operational base for some of the largest and fastest-growing names.
Cyprus, long the de facto European base for retail brokerages, also continues to play a role. Finery Markets, a Cyprus-based non-custodial crypto electronic communication network, placed seventeenth on the main list and was the highest-ranked Cypriot fintech in the ranking. The firm graduated from last year’s Rising Star category, where Deloitte recognized it in 2024.
What This Means for the Broader Prop Industry
For an industry that has spent much of the past two years fighting for legitimacy — through platform pivots, regulatory scrutiny, and very public payout disputes — placement on a Big Four growth ranking is a meaningful external validation. Deloitte’s Fast 50 is not a marketing list. Submissions are vetted, revenue figures are verified, and the placements are based on hard four-year growth numbers rather than self-reported metrics.
The takeaway for traders is twofold. First, the firms scaling fastest are increasingly the ones investing in licensed infrastructure — broker entities, regulated jurisdictions, audited payout pipelines — rather than purely the marketing-heavy operators that dominated the 2023 boom. Second, the center of gravity in retail prop is migrating. The UAE’s combination of favorable tax treatment, free-zone licensing, and proximity to growth markets in Asia and Africa is reshaping where the largest prop firms choose to base their operations.
For competitors based in Europe, North America, and Latin America, the implication is more competitive pressure on capital, talent, and payout speed. The firms now sitting on Deloitte’s growth list have the cash flow and brand equity to keep pulling the floor up — on profit splits, on payout turnaround, and on platform credibility. Smaller operators that cannot match those operating standards are likely to find the next two years considerably tighter. For traders evaluating where to fund, this kind of independent ranking is one more data point worth weighing alongside independent prop firm comparisons and verified payout history.
Frequently Asked Questions About This Story
Source: Finance Magnates
