azakaw named an IDC Innovator in Middle East Regulatory Technology, 2026

IDC has named azakaw one of only three RegTech Innovators across the entire Middle East in its 2026 report.

IDC is not an awards body. It does not accept submissions. It is the world's largest technology market intelligence firm, the organisation whose research informs procurement decisions at tier-one banks, global fintechs and regulators across the region. When IDC identifies an Innovator, it has conducted independent research, evaluated the competitive landscape and made an editorial determination that a vendor is building something the market genuinely needs.

Three vendors were named across the entire Middle East. azakaw is one of them.

WHAT IDC IDENTIFIED

Built by practitioners, not engineers

azakaw's road map is not shaped in an annual planning cycle. It is shaped by consulting mandates, regulatory engagement and direct feedback from over 100 regulated organisations across diverse jurisdictions. Every module, every workflow, every design decision reflects how compliance teams actually operate, not how technologists imagine they do. The difference shows in how the product works.

Front end and back end: the full compliance lifecycle

The onboarding side of compliance is where most platforms stop. azakaw does not stop there.

KYC/KYB, AML screening and transaction monitoring handle the front end. But the platform was built equally for what comes after: the enhanced due diligence records, the audit trails, the regulatory obligation tracking, every action time and date stamped and ready for a regulator in minutes, not days. For regulated firms that have lived through an inspection, that distinction matters more than any feature list.

MENA-first architecture

Not localised. Not adapted. Built for this market from the start. Native data residency controls. Nafath and Yakeen integrations built in as foundations, not afterthoughts. Multi-jurisdiction, multi-tenant design that reflects the regulatory complexity of the GCC rather than working around it.

Responsible AI

Regulatory horizon scanning automates the extraction and operationalisation of new compliance requirements, monitoring regulators continuously without manual input. AI supports liveness detection, ID verification, rule generation and risk scoring throughout the platform. But in regulated environments, a human being makes the final decision. azakaw was built around that principle from day one, and IDC recognised it as correctly positioned for regulated buyers evaluating AI governance risk.

7x year-over-year growth in FY2025

azakaw achieved sevenfold growth in FY2025, with strong UAE performance and expanding reach across the GCC, Africa, the UK and select European markets. Growth at this rate in a compliance platform market does not happen by accident. It reflects product-market fit confirmed by over 100 regulated organisations choosing to build their compliance infrastructure on azakaw.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

"Our clients and prospects often tell us one thing: azakaw is the most comprehensive compliance platform they have come across. azakaw was built to empower compliance teams across the full lifecycle: CDD, EDD, KYC and document renewals, obligation tracking and reporting, all in one place. azakaw serves as a single source of truth. When a regulator asks for evidence, every action is time-stamped, who did what and when, audit-ready and retrievable in minutes, not days. Having IDC independently validate that through its own research confirms what our clients already know. It also tells the rest of the market."

Zohaib Awan, Group Director, Business Development, azakaw and j. awan and partners

"azakaw is not a product created by tech people. It was created by the ones who actually use it: practitioners who worked in compliance and risk every day and understood exactly where fragmented tools fail. We also made a deliberate choice about AI. In regulated environments, a human being needs to make the final decision. We drive processes with AI, but accountability cannot be delegated. IDC recognised that approach. That means more to us than any marketing claim."

Cristiano Machado, Deputy CEO and CTO, azakaw

WHAT THIS MEANS IF YOU ARE EVALUATING COMPLIANCE TECHNOLOGY

One of three vendors across the entire Middle East RegTech landscape. That is the context.

For regulated institutions currently assessing compliance platforms, this recognition is an independent reference point from a source that procurement teams, risk committees and boards already trust. It sits alongside the client evidence, the product demonstrations and the regulatory track record, and it carries weight in those conversations in a way that marketing claims do not.

azakaw is already live across asset managers, fintechs, banks, broker-dealers, virtual asset providers, law firms, real estate firms and corporate service providers across the GCC and beyond.

The full IDC Innovators: Middle East Regulatory Technology Providers, 2026 report is available on idc.com.

To see azakaw in action: azakaw.com/request-a-demo

azakaw. Created by compliance experts. Designed for performance. Built to scale.