Venture Capital Mena Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report
table of contents
01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19 20. introduction Definition of VC in MENA Important Note macro overview The VC Ecosystem vc in gcc vc in levant vc in north africa MENA Venture Capital Investment Data Legal Challenges for Mena vc Snapshot of Mena vc firms Angel/Seed & Other Social VC Incubators/Technology Parks & Related Entities Directory directory- Angel/Seed & Other Investment Firms directory- Social VC appendix mena private equity association Supporter profiles 03 04 05 06 07 08 10 13 18 22 25 27 28 29 31 35 36 37 44 45
The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no guarantee that such information is or will continue to be accurate. No one should act on such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation.
introduction
Tarek Kabrit, Riyada Enterprise Development
Venture Capital (VC) is a long term enterprise and as such it has the luxury of looking past immediate political volatility and benefitting from the long term economic trend of high growth in the MENA region, where change lies, opportunity abounds. Economic reform has been underway in the region for over ten years and has produced growth rates that put MENA in the top tier of emerging markets. Moreover, with the demographic dividend that the fast growing populations of MENA provide the opportunity for venture capital is increasing significantly year on year. In reality, the Venture Capital industry is just beginning to take off in our region and the number of VC deals closed in 2009 and 2010 is almost triple the number of deals closed in the 2 years prior to that. Moreover, Venture Capital professionals in the region expect those figures to rise even further over the coming 18 months. Similarly on the fund raising side, we notice that Venture Capital funds raised in 2010 alone were almost equal to the total number of funds raised in the 4 years before that. This is a strong predictor of expected future activity on the deal making side in the Venture Capital space. It is worth noting that in MENA the growth equity segment is also developing rapidly. Firms in this space may invest in a wide variety of SMEs including those in traditional industries as well undertaking investments in earlier stage venture deals. Like every nascent market there are challenges to the development of a Venture Capital industry in our region, enforceability of certain traditional VC investment terms and structures, market education and the depth of the sophisticated investor pool. However, with very strong macroeconomic fundamentals and a potential pan-Arab consumer market of 400 million, the current underinvested nature of the Venture Capital industry clearly suggests that the opportunity significantly outweighs the challenges. With the rise of more and more entrepreneurs, the formation of new funds, and solid demographic and economic fundamentals, the medium to long term prospects of the industry look very bright for investors and entrepreneurs alike.
This report was a collaborative effort between the MENA Private Equity Association, the VC Taskforce Team, Zawya and industry professionals. Special thanks go to Ghazi Ben Othman for providing a significant portion of the report content.
VC Taskforce
Tarek Kabrit, Riyada Enterprise Development www.riyada.com Ghazi Ben Othman, Malaz Capital www.malazcapital.com Walid Hanna, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) www.mevp.com Feroz Sanaulla, Intel Capital www.intelcapital.com Ali Arab, Zawya www.zawya.com Nicholas Mc Donagh, Saffar www.saffar.com Basel Roshdy, IT Ventures/Nile Capital www.nile-capital.com Amer Mardam Bey, Siraj Capital www.sirajcapital.com Tarek Asaad, Ideavelopers www.ideavelopers.com Sami Beydoun, Berytech www.berytech.org
Others
William C. Fellows, FSVC www.fsvc.org Andrew Lewis, Norton Rose www.nortonrose.com Raymond Soueid,Booz & Company www.booz.com/me Yousef Hamza, Envestors www.envestors.ae Robin Amlt www.cpifinancial.ae Brad Whitfield, KPMG www.ae-kpmg.com
Definition of VC in MENA
Venture Capital in the MENA region is defined as the provision of long-term equity investment and strategic support by financial investors in innovative, scaleable companies at early growth stage.
Key criteria used to define VC firms and transactions also include:

investments must be in non-listed companies (private companies), investment commitment over life of deal should be around USD1 million-USD15 million,
there must be a plan to exit,
high expected returns, VC excludes seed/angel/direct investments, and VC is not confined solely to technology investments, but technology is often a core factor that
creates the level of potential scaleability required in a VC deal.
Important Note
The VC definition above was recently developed by the MENA VC Taskforce (April 2011). Note that the criteria used in VC data analysis on page 4 uses separate criteria. This report also includes growth equity SME investment firms that invest in a wide variety of SMEs including those in traditional industries as well as earlier stage venture deals. The funds included in the data analysis are those defined in terms of self-reporting by fund mandate or fund manager as VC funds or SME growth capital funds. At this stage of industry development, no attempt was made to determine whether such self-reported funds meet the criteria above. The analysis was prepared based on data sourced from the Zawya Private Equity Monitor. KPMG member firms have not initiated any primary research in relation to this draft report and have not sought to establish or confirm the reliability of the data provided by Zawya. The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no guarantee that such information is or will continue to be accurate. No one should act on such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation. In analysing and determining the parameters of available data, it has been necessary to apply certain criteria, the most significant of which are as follows:
Funds managed within the MENA region but whose focus is to invest solely outside the region
are excluded.
Investment size represents the total investment (both the debt and equity portions).
However fund size only considers equity invested, as we have no visibility on debt exposure by funds.
The fund-raising totals are the amounts closed/committed for fund-raising funds, closed funds, investing
funds, fully vested funds and liquidated funds.
Statistics are based on the market approach and funds are categorised based on the intended
destination for investments (as defined in a funds announced mandate) as opposed to where the firm is located. With regard to multi-region funds, we have included these to the extent that there is a focus on the MENA region. Fund Size: In the case of funds yet to make a first close or where no close information is available; fund size is equivalent to the target amount and is noted as such. For funds achieving at least one official close, fund size is reported as the capital raised to date, while for funds that have made a final close, the fund size is the total capital raised. Rumoured funds are excluded. MENA: For the purpose of this report, MENA refers to the following countries in the Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, KSA, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen North Africa: Our VC transactions and fund data on North Africa (in particular, the Maghreb region) are limited. This is partly because many of the funds in this area have a mandate that covers Africa, whereas the data analysis in this report is limited to those funds with a focus on MENA. We aim to provide further depth of coverage on the Mahgreb in future reports.
macro overview
Raymond Soueid, Booz & Company
The need to provide sufficient employment for burgeoning young populations makes it clear that the countries of the MENA region must develop a more organic, bottom-up approach to providing jobs and driving economic growth, with a significant role for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). That will require a significant increase in entrepreneurship, and higher value and impact entrepreneurship. This entrepreneurship cannot be limited to the historical forms of self-employment in the region, characterized by small shops and other relatively unsophisticated businesses. Rather, the regions new entrepreneurs will have to develop innovative products and services with the intent to build large businesses of their own. VC firms that could support this wave of growth may look to a number of regional economic growth drivers, including population growth, natural resource availability, and overhaul of major infrastructure. There will be several sectors where strong entrepreneurial input will be necessary. Start-up companies that can, for example, quickly develop human capital solutions for larger companies will have significant market opportunities. Other sectors that will make good use of Start-ups include tourism, mining and maritime, healthcare, and renewable energy. While the technology sector is relatively underbuilt, the regions focus on information technology investment is opening up many new opportunities for specialty firms especially firms that can help create regional analogues to some of the IT VC-backed success stories in Europe and North America. Another area of opportunity is the missing middle those businesses with an enterprise value between USD500,000 and USD8 million. Even where entrepreneurs are able to secure seed and early funding from friends, families and angel investors, there remains a gap between this stage and that where private equity or commercial banks are willing to take a stake. This financing gap is especially acute in those sectors which have not traditionally enjoyed investor support in some parts of the Middle East: sectors such as education, technology, tourism, and hospitality. For those venture capitalists that enter the region and develop a strong enough network to develop potential deals, the opportunities will not only be manifold, they will come without the competition that greets their counterparts in other regions of the world. Although the region represents a significant opportunity for VC firms, there are still issues to be addressed. Fund managers recognize that their chief impediment in the region is simply a lack of deal flow. Not enough actionable ideas are available for review and funding, and those ideas are not always backed by management teams with strong capabilities. Entrepreneurs need strong support at every stage of the start-up process, requiring a great deal of time and effort from VC firms. This absence is due partly to the lack the components that mark entrepreneurial activity elsewhere: a cultural willingness to fail, a wide network of potential mentors and supporters, a legal and regulatory system that makes it possible to start and run businesses effectively, and a mature technology industry. Even if deal flow picks up, the region still needs to address some structural flaws. In certain markets, for example, bankruptcy laws and procedures do not make possible the orderly dissolution of assets. This creates significant uncertainty in a market where failure is common. Laws regarding contracts, corporate structures, corporate governance, legal ownership and post-IPO lock-ups and exits further complicate the future of VC activity in the region. Yet these challenges are more than offset by the potential that the region offers to VC firms able to get involved and guide the entrepreneurs they are hoping to fund. If the deals begin to percolate in enough volume, the region will become one of the globes great new VC territories.
the vc ecosystem
VC firms, incubators, and other entities in the VC Ecosystem (Map shows head office locations only - many of the entities below cover a broader or country scope. Map is also for illustrative purposes and does not include all the stakeholders in the regional VC ecosystem)
Online
Wamda www.wamda.com Arab Crunch www.arabcrunch.com StartUpArabia www.startuparabia.com Egypreneur www.intelcapital.com
Business Plan Competitions

MIT Arab Business Plan Competition www.fsvc.org Arabia 500 Competition www.nortonrose.com Mashro3ak Hakeeka (Arabic Only) www.booz.com/me MedVentures www.envestors.ae
VC in GCC
Ghazi Ben Othman, Malaz Capital
Overview
VC and entrepreneurship activity in the GCC is dominated by two countries:
Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the region, and the UAE, the most dynamic economy in the region.
However, overall, the level of entrepreneurship activity in the GCC remains below par when compared to similarly sized regions in emerging markets. Entrepreneurship activity in Saudi Arabia is driven by the large number of engineering graduates coming out of the top Saudi universities. With the inception of KAUST, Saudi Arabia is well-positioned to continue to dominate the region in terms of engineering quality and output. The UAEs entrepreneurship activity continues to be dominated by expatriates, whether from the Arab world, Europe or Asia. The business environment in the UAE is very favourable to attracting entrepreneurial expatriates. However, the concept and the benefits of venture capital are still largely ignored by all institutional and governmental investors and sponsors in the GCC. The ability to make reasonable financial returns in traditional sectors such as infrastructure and real estate, combined with a general lack of understanding of the VC asset class, means that VC firms and funds are still scarce in the GCC, especially when compared to other more traditional forms of financing.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

Entrepreneurship: Over the last two years, Saudi Arabian authorities have been investing heavily in improving and expanding their educational capabilities across the whole spectrum from kindergarten to universities. The country has also been establishing all-encompassing technology parks in the main regions of the country Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran. These parks are referred to as Techno Valleys. Their purpose is to offer entrepreneurs integrated facilities that can help them easily establish their companies. In addition to the Techno Valleys, Saudi Arabia is in the process of establishing industry specific clusters that are intended to integrate all of the various elements of the ecosystem needed for each of those industries. Finally, the countrys existing technology incubators, research facilities and leading universities continue to enjoy significant support from the government. All of this educational infrastructure and support should lead at some point, to significant entrepreneurship activity in Saudi Arabia. However, at the moment, the creation of new start-ups in Saudi Arabia is limited and dispersed. There are examples of successful start-ups in Saudi Arabia in the Internet, mobile and IT spaces that have achieved revenue scale and are already profitable. Most if not all of these companies, however, have achieved their success with no VC funding, little mentoring or support and none have benefited from the existing clusters or techno parks.
With more VC funding and support, the output of innovative start-ups in Saudi Arabia should increase significantly. The country already graduates significant numbers of engineers and has invested heavily in the infrastructure of technology parks. The country now needs to invest in the last critical piece of the puzzle: venture capital, to make this happen. Venture Capital: As in most GCC countries, the concept of venture capital is foreign in Saudi Arabia. Interestingly, the very first venture capitalists in history could well be Muslim investors using the concept of Mudarabah (an Islamic finance concept, whereby an investor entrusts money to a manager who uses his skill and knowledge to create value, and profits are shared between the investor and manager).
united arab emirates

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial activity in the UAE and, in particular, in Dubai is quite extensive. The countrys world class infrastructure and ease of doing business makes one of the preferred locations to establish new companies, especially in technology. Entrepreneurial activity in the UAE covers the full gamut of new technologies from mobile to social media to online advertising. It also covers hardware technologies but to a much lesser degree. Entrepreneurs in the UAE tend to be expats from the neighbouring Arab countries who have decided to that it would be easier to establish their companies in the UAE than in their home countries. However, some significant hurdles make the UAE environment relatively difficult for start-ups. Indeed, the very high cost of living in the UAE is a significant impediment to the success of cash-strapped start-ups. In addition, the lack of qualified engineering talent coming from domestic UAE universities makes scaling operations for start-ups expensive and time consuming. Most entrepreneurs tell us that, ideally, they would prefer to keep the engineering operations of their start-ups in their home countries, while establishing sales and marketing operations in the UAE. Long term, if this trend accelerates, then the UAE would be at risk of losing significant economic opportunities tied to such start-ups. Venture Capital: VC firms that are based in the UAE tend to target region-wide investment opportunities and not just those in the UAE. As such, there are few if any VC firms focused exclusively on the UAE market. Compared to other asset classes such as private equity and buy-outs, VC remains an out-of-favour asset class in the UAE. This is most likely due to the smaller size of the funds and the enormous amount of post-investment work that needs to take place to achieve the expected financial returns. The current landscape of VC activity in the UAE is a mish-mash of older funds that have ceased to invest, new funds that have not been raised yet, and existing funds that are re-gionally focused. Until existing financial players in the UAE that have previously focused on other asset classes start to pay attention to venture capital, the VC landscape is likely to remain weak and diffused. An example of the industry moving in that direction is Abraaj Capital (that typically invested in large Private Equity deals) launching Riyada Enterprise Development fund which focuses on providing growth capital to regional SMEs.
rest of gcc
Activity in the rest of the GCC in entrepreneurship and VC remains quite limited. The combination of low numbers of local engineering graduates, low number of expat entrepreneurs and low numbers of venture investors has created an environment that is not friendly to new start-ups. There are isolated attempts here and there in each country to kick-start both start-up activity and to provide access to VC funds. However, most efforts we have seen are either still early in their inception or not encompassing enough to help local entrepreneurs.
VC in levant
Walid Hanna, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP)
The Levant is witnessing improving investment conditions and a growing interest in its markets. Increasingly, VC is becoming a viable regional asset class. Jordan and Lebanon are leading the sector with their growing VC ecosystems. The public sector is also recognizing the importance of VC within the economy and is mulling its future policies and their likely effect on the industry. Entrepreneurship: The region is set to benefit from its wealth of ICT-specialized human capital. The younger generation is increasingly more entrepreneurial. Although some are copy cats, the ripple effect of this currently small wave of entrepreneurship will have a positive impact in the long run. Venture Capital: VC firms have an increasing number of challenges to overcome. One is to uphold the deployment of funds in quality deals. Another is to develop successful exits and realize expected returns in nascent M&A market. Regulatory structures and the improvement of the legal framework in the region are further challenges to be addressed by this emerging industry. The VC concept is little known to start-ups as demonstrated by entrepreneurs low levels of preparation when they reach out to VC firms for funding. They usually display little understanding of the commitments they are asked to take as well as unclear understanding of the value they extract from such a partnership. VCs have, therefore, a clear educational role. While still almost a green field, VC has existed in the Levant for some time. However, it has only become active in the past couple of years. Intel Capital and Abraaj Capitals Riyada Enterprise Development Funds are the largest funds active in the region with Riyada Enterprise Development (an SME growth capital investment firm) having dedicated funds for Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. Other companies in Jordan include: Accelerator Technology Holding, Interactive Venture (IV) Holdings (regional funds based in Jordan); and in Lebanon: Berytech Fund, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP).
Jordan
Adey Salamin, Riyada Enterprise Development
Entrepreneurship: Jordan is home to a number of successful start-ups that have become household names regionally and that have become success stories shared among the youth and would-be entrepreneurs. A new culture of I can do it too is being born in Jordan as a result of the role models created. Major success stories include: Aramex, Maktoob, Pharmacy One, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Nuqul Group, Rubicon, Iris Guard, and many more. Armed with a couple of entrepreneurial success stories while running a country with limited resources and a high unemployment rate, the Government of Jordan was eager to promote high profile youth entrepreneurship programs. YEA (Young Entrepreneurs Association) and INJAZ (Economic Opportunities for Jordanian Youth Program) were among the first initiatives aimed at young people to get them involved in Jordans private sector. King Abudllah II has championed the cause of Jordanian entrepreneurs and the potential of private sector involvement. A group of progressive entrepreneurs, investors and leading Jordanian figures set up Oasis 500, a program to incubate, train future entrepreneurs and seed over 500 start-ups. Oasis 500 is currently led by Dr. Ussama Fayyad, ex-Chief Data Officer at Yahoo!, who is confident that Jordan has a tech-savvy core community keen on developing ideas in cyberspace and new technology.
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Venture capital: The VC and growth capital investment industry in Jordan is still in the early stages of development. Within the growth capital funding category, efforts are currently led by Riyada Enterprise Development, an Abraaj Capital fund focusing on entrepreneurially-run and innovative SME businesses that are scalable into new regional markets and that can leverage technology to support their work. IV Holdings, a subsidiary of Accelerator Technology Holdings led by Emile Cubeisy, focuses on investments in the internet, mobile and interactive companies space. The Angel Investment space within Jordan has been more active in the past couple of years and specifically led by individuals such as Fadi Ghandour and Maher Qaddura among others. One of many challenges facing Angel Investors and entrepreneurs was how to find or connect with each other. These challenges recently prompted Oasis 500 to launch the first organized Angel Investment Network and Event to promote its first six Jordanian start-ups to over 150 local and regional Angel Investors. The event was a great success with each demonstrated start-up getting at least a couple of serious investors interested and currently evaluating the potential to invest. Business plan competitions are being proposed and launched. These competitions are creating awareness in the investor community that there is a flow of entrepreneurial ideas and energy. There is a realization that a huge gap exists in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. The solution is not in ideas or programs, but in a will to turn ideas into successes. The seeds for kick-starting the efforts of fostering a more nurturing and practical ecosystem for entrepreneurship in Jordan are just germinating. Its time to become an entrepreneur! Feroz Sanaulla, Intel Capital points out that Jordan is at the forefront of content and consumer technologies in MENA In terms of consumer orientated technology, Jordan is where the action is especially scaleable Arabic content generation and ecommerce. Organizations that support the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Jordan include:
Endeavor Jordan: Launched in 2009 to support high-impact entrepreneurship in the country, it has
already selected 18 entrepreneurs from high-growth Jordanian start-ups including Think Arabia, Jeeran, Akhtaboot, CADER, among others.
The Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE): A not-for-profit, non-governmental organization
which works towards improving national development, and aims to be the regions cornerstone for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship advancement. The QRCE hosts the Google Award for the Best Online Business in Jordan, in addition to the Queen Rania Entrepreneurship Competition. Endeavor Jordan, The Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Young Entrepreneurs Association have collaboratively put together the Global Entrepreneurship Week event in Jordan. The goal of Global Entrepreneurship Week is to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, and to encourage entrepreneurship around the globe. The organizers have focused especially on positioning Jordan as a regional hub of innovation and a leader in entrepreneurial activity.
Business Development Centre (BDC): Formed in 2005 to provide management training, functional
support, and coalition building opportunities to encourage the growth of SMEs and the development of entrepreneurial capacity within Jordan.
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Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO): A Government entity established in 2003 to

facilitate enterprise modernization, including the promotion of efficiency and capacity building in target enterprises. JEDCOs objective is to enable Jordanian businesses to maximize the benefits of economic and trade agreements signed by the Government, confront the challenges of globalization and penetrate non-traditional markets.
Amman Tech Tuesdays: A local platform that brings engineers, business people, experts, investors,
marketers, entrepreneurs, students and regular enthusiasts from the technology community together on the first Tuesday of every month in a casual but structured setting. The main goal behind the program is to organically fortify and interweave tech-ties in Amman to further Jordans position as the regions Silicon Valley/Sahara.
iPARK: A technology Incubator aiming to provide the needed catalyst to fuel the entrepreneurial process
that is pivotal to Jordans economic development. Other SME and entrepreneurship support initiatives in Jordan include: the Industrial Scientific Research and Development Fund (ISRDF), King Abdullah II Fund for Development (KAFD), MeydanValue@Speed Accelerator, AgroIndustries Business Incubator (Jordan innovation Center), the National Consortium for Technology and Business Incubation (NACTBI) and Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation (JLGC).
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vc in north africa
Egypt
Tarek Asaad, Ideavelopers, with input from Ghazi Ben Othman, Malaz Capital
Entrepreneurship: Egypt is the Middle Easts most populous country and a traditional centre of education and content creation in the region. Egyptian Universities graduate over 14,000 engineers per year out of a total of 330,000 graduates. This large pool of young educated talent is the main driving force behind Egypts healthy entrepreneurial environment. A number of promising start-ups have been founded in Egypt in the past two years. These include me too companies replicating successful models in advanced economies and local plays that are built on local technology or business model innovations. In particular the internet and mobile sectors have seen the emergence of many start-ups. With 14 million and 60 million Egyptian users of internet and mobile respectively, and with quick uptake of broadband connectivity on both wired and mobile networks, Egyptian start-ups have the advantage of a large platform to leverage. Innovations in mobile using technologies such as location-based services have allowed many companies to offer new services to the local market and to disrupt existing established segments. An emerging trend in Egypt has been the creation of cross-border start-ups that operate in a large established target market, namely the US, as well as in Egypt. Typically, the client-facing organization is located in the target market country and the Egyptian organization focuses on technology development and operations. Although most start-up companies are based in Cairo, the economic hub of the country, Alexandria has seen a fair share of technology start-up companies. Built on the strength of the renowned Faculty of Engineering at the Alexandria University, these start-ups have not only been able to succeed in the Egyptian market but also to compete internationally, with one creating the globally best-selling paid weather application for the iPad. On the governmental front, the creation of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) has sponsored many programs supporting the growth of companies in the sector. The MCIT has clearly changed focus in 2010 from attracting FDI to the burgeoning offshore business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, which has been immensely successful in Egypt and has helped the country generate over USD1 billion in 2010 focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation. The Technology Incubation Program (TIP) was established by the MCIT to support technology start-ups by providing premises, business services and strategic advice. Since inception, the TIP program has supported 27 companies covering different areas of technology and business model innovations. More recently, the MCIT has established the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC) which will drive the Ministrys efforts in this area going forward. TIEC has announced several initiatives to support technology entrepreneurship including a partnership to establish Plug And Play, a Silicon Valley incubator, in Egypt. Venture Capital and Angel Investments: VC investment is a relatively new concept to Egypt with only a small number of active players. Egypts largest and oldest venture capital firm is Ideavelopers, the VC arm of EFG-Hermes. Ideavelopers manages an Egypt-focused USD50 million fund, sponsored by Government-owned organizations such as Telecom Egypt, Egypt Post and other banks and insurance companies
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As of the end of 2010, Ideavelopers had 14 companies in its portfolio including two semiconductor companies, two electronic payment companies and other start-ups covering different areas of innovation and technology. Among other investors looking opportunities in Egypt, Cairo-based Sawari Ventures has announced plans to raise its first VC fund focused on the mobile sector and announced investments in two Egyptian mobile companies. Riyada Enterprise Developmentwith its dedicated Egyptian fund has also announced an investment in an Egyptian IT services company in late 2010. Angel investment has seen a strong ramp-up in activity in Egypt in the past two years. The profile of these investors includes:
established successful businessmen who have created wealth from their existing businesses, mainly in
the technology sector,
entrepreneurs who have been successful in building technology companies, senior managers in multinational companies, cross-industry investors who are interested in the technology sector, and Egyptian expatriates who are successful in other countries (namely the US and the UAE) and are
interested in funding opportunity back home As of the writing of this report, there was no established organization that connects Angel Investors either to each other or to entrepreneurs. Angel Investment is largely based on personal contacts and investment.
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia & Libya

Ghazi Ben Othman, Malaz Capital, with input from William Fellows, FSVC The level of innovation and technology-driven entrepreneurship is below the potential of the region. Despite the relative large size of the population, the deal flow and entrepreneurial activity in each country
will remain relatively low for a few more years. As such VC firms need to take a pan-regional approach to investing, rather than a single country approach. This will increase the deal flow available to them and enable them to tap into a larger pool of human capital and a larger market.
The region needs to tap more aggressively into the entrepreneurship and venture capital communities of
its compatriots residing in Europe and North America (just like China and India benefited significantly from the reverse brain drain) to achieve its entrepreneurial potential.
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Morocco
Entrepreneurship: For the last few years, Morocco has been at the forefront of technology research and development in North Africa. The Casablanca region remains its economic hub and the centre of economic activity, generating roughly 60 per cent of GDP, but the private sector and authorities are attempting to expand investment opportunity into the regions. The Government, seeking to boost its technology base, recently opened a second main technology centre in the new Rabat Technopolis, following the Casablanca Technopark launched roughly a decade ago and the highly successful Casablanca Nearshore centre, focused on BPO off-shoring for the French-speaking markets. The new Rabat Technopark is anchored by Nemotek, a collaboration between a Moroccan technology company and a leading Silicon Valley technology company, Tessera. Nemotek develops semiconductor products and hosts its own wafer fabrication facility. The Government and private sector are also working on a series of sectorfocused parks covering technology ranging from automotive technology around Renaults new 1 billion production centre in Tangiers, to biotech and agricultural technology. At the Medventures conference in December 2010, Morocco contributed nine technology start-ups in the sectors of IT, media, healthcare, BPO and consulting. Of the three winners at the conference, one was a Moroccan start-up in the social media space. Similarly to Algeria and Tunisia, Morocco produces a significant number of engineers and business graduates every year from its many universities. While the output of start-ups and overall entrepreneurial activity in Morocco increased in 2010 compared to 2009, the actual output continues to be well below the potential of the country and well below the competition in Eastern Europe or Asia. The relevant authorities in Morocco understand the need to promote and support higher-value-added, innovative firms and start-ups. Initiatives such as Maroc Innovation, the various technopoli and innovation cities are steps in the right direction. However, the level of effort and funding dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship in technology still lags behind needs. Venture Capital: Morocco has one of the larger VC sectors in the MENA region, but like others, investment has tended to focus on later stage, more mature firms after unsuccessful experiences in early stage investments. However, interest is returning to early stage investing. The private seed capital/VC fund, Fonds Dayam/Sherpa Entrepreneur club was launched in 2008. In 2010, the Government launched an early stage fund to focus on funding start-ups, in association with the Casablanca Technopark. As in many other MENA region countries, there is a tendency in policy-making circles to look at VC as a jobs creation tool rather than an asset class that can mobilise private investors to invest in more innovative firms. Given its large population and relatively sizable economy, Morocco should be striving to develop a more diversified VC ecosystem that consists of multiple early and growth stage firms. All of the elements needed are already present in Morocco today.
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Algeria
Entrepreneurship: Algerian technology entrepreneurship is alive and well. Unfortunately, that activity is not happening in Algeria, but rather in France, Canada and Silicon Valley. Algerian technology entrepreneurs in those developed countries have created hundreds of successful technology start-ups employing thousands of engineers and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues, in some of the most complex technology sectors such as solar, networking, and semiconductors. Despite certain efforts to promote and support technology entrepreneurship in Algeria such activity remains very depressed to this day. Programs such Algerian Start-up Initiative (ASI) helped to kick-start some of that activity and to raise the awareness for the need to support entrepreneurship. However, little has come out of this so far. At the Medventures conference held in December 2010, Algeria contributed 10 start-ups in the IT, media, healthcare and industrial sectors. These start-ups deserve significant credit because they have achieved their current status despite the almost complete lack of institutionalized support or funding. The leading technology park in Algeria is Cyberparc Sidi Abdellah. While it is a positive step, it is far from sufficient to provide the type of support that Algerian start-ups require. Given the state of technology entrepreneurship in Algeria being significantly behind that of the rest of North Africa or the Arab world, a significant and sustained effort is required just to catch up. Given Algerias great pool of human talent and its vast resource wealth, the current level of entrepreneurship is well below the potential achievable by the country. Venture Capital: One of the key elements preventing Algeria from starting to achieve its entrepreneurship potential is the complete lack of VC or similar financing for risky technology companies. Compared to its Maghreb peers such as Morocco and Tunisia, Algeria lags seriously behind in other forms of entrepreneurship financing, especially those focused on young entrepreneurs. There cannot be an increase in entrepreneurship activity in Algeria until an enabling climate for VC investment emerges.
Tunisia
Entrepreneurship: In 2010, Tunisia continued to enjoy a level of technology entrepreneurship that was high compared to the size of its population and economy. Tunisian entrepreneurship tended to mirror the technology sectors where the Tunisian economy has found its niche: embedded systems, industrial and chemical. In addition, Tunisian start-ups continued to be active in the software development and Internet spaces. Indeed, at the Medventures conference held in December 2010, Tunisia contributed 10 start-ups in the following sectors: IT, media, industrial and robotics, chemical and healthcare. Some of these start-ups had already obtained support and financing from various sources inside Tunisia.
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Tunisia had already set up various technology parks around the country, the most significant of which is Al Ghazela north of Tunis. Like other techno parks in North Africa, these parks tend to be more appropriate for larger foreign technology firms wanted to set up shop in a country for off-shoring development or manufacturing. This park however is not as well suited for local Tunisian start-ups, because of its relatively remote location and the relatively high cost of rent, etc. Despite the challenges, technology entrepreneurship activity in Tunisia remains healthy, especially compared to the size of the country. In fact, given the political developments in January 2011 in Tunisia, we expect that entrepreneurship activity will significantly grow in the latter half of 2011 and beyond with Government and international support. Venture Capital: When it comes to funding and financing of SMEs, Tunisia has a relatively long list of options available to entrepreneurs, including SME-focused banks. While these financing options are welcome, they are not focused on the specific needs of innovative firms or knowledge-based start-ups. As such, while these firms provided financing, they did not provide any appropriate level of mentoring and support needed by entrepreneurs. All of the components of a successful and robust entrepreneurship ecosystem are present in Tunisia: human capital, financing for riskier enterprises, research activity at universities and institutions and technology parks. However, like Morocco and Algeria, Tunisias entrepreneurship potential is much larger than what is currently being achieved. To begin to tap that potential, Tunisia needs to establish a true VC sector, needs to streamline its technology parks and needs to provide even more support for research and development.
libya
Entrepreneurship: We are not aware of any substantial technology or knowledge-driven entrepreneurship activity in Libya in 2010. Indeed, at the Medventures conference held in December 2010, while Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria and even Palestine contributed 10 start-ups each, Libya did not contribute a single one. Venture Capital: Similarly, we are not aware of any substantial or institutionalized funding sources for Libyan SMEs focused on innovation.
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MENA Venture Capital Investment Data

Brad Whittman, KPMG
Investments
While the VC industry in the region is still relatively nascent, recent trends have seen a significant increase in both deal activity and fund raising. We note that, given the nature and size of VC investments, a significant portion are either not publically announced or, if they are announced, the value of the investment is not. For the purposes of our analysis, we have focussed on transaction volume as opposed to value.
Number of VC Transactions since 2006
Number of Transactions Source: Zawya Private Equity Monitor The past two years have seen a significant increase in VC-related transactions with 33 transactions compared to just 16 in the period 2006 to 2008. This is in contrast to the private equity industry as a whole for the MENA region, which has seen a reduction in deal volume.
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sector concentration since 2006
regional concentration since 2006
Source: Zawya Private Equity Monitor For the past five years, the most popular sectors for VC transactions have been the IT and software industry with 45 per cent of the total transactions since 2006 (representing 22 completed transactions). Egypt and the UAE are the locations for more than half of the total transactions since 2006 (56 per cent). While Egypt benefits from a large and fast-growing population, the UAE is a popular destination for fund managers given the size and dynamic nature of the economy.
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vc funds
annual funds raised
usd m
funds raised cumulative funds raised since 2000
usd m
funds raised Source: Zawya Private Equity Monitor
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Although raising capital continues to be a challenge for fund managers in the region, 2010 saw three funds successfully raise USD300 million, a significant increase from prior years. While this is largely attributable to one particular fund which raised USD250 million, it shows that investors are seeing considerable value in the industry. Due to the lack of information in relation to the value of completed transactions, it is difficult to comment on the extent to which these funds have been deployed.
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10
legal challenges for mena vc

Andrew Lewis, Norton Rose
the issues
There are significant challenges for VC firms investing in MENA onshore companies (but most particularly GCC onshore companies)* to achieve many of the terms which are regarded as standard for VC investments internationally. Many of these terms clash with local law principles which typically apply in the MENA region (which are derived from various sources, including customary, Shariah, common and civil laws). A VC investor usually acquires a minority shareholding, while seeking special rights to protect its minority position and mitigate the inherent risks of investing at an early stage in high growth companies. If VC investors are unable to obtain and rely on these rights because they conflict directly with local law principles or, even where no direct conflict exists, their effectiveness and enforceability is doubtful, then this creates a serious impediment to the development of a flourishing MENA region VC industry. VC investment is a risky and difficult enough business as it is, even with all of the special rights which mitigate risk and enhance upside that typically apply internationally. If these special rights cannot be obtained and relied upon for MENA investments, then an otherwise comparable VC investment is less viable in MENA than elsewhere. International VC investors will be discouraged from allocating funds to MENA investments and MENAs high growth companies will be disadvantaged in the competition for scarce VC funding. Examples of some of the issues confronted for a VC investment in a MENA onshore company are set out in the table. typical vc term Preferential equity terms description The most typical preference right sought by VC investors is the right to receive their capital back (or in some cases a multiple of that capital amount) in priority to other shareholders on exit/liquidation (if the exit proceeds sale are insufficient to return all of the capital invested by all shareholders). Preferential dividend rights may also apply, where the preference dividends accumulate until a distribution can be made (and are added to the exit preference if that occurs first). mena local issue Most MENA local law jurisdictions do not allow for different share classes and the issuance of shares with different economic rights conflicts with local law principles.
Reserved matters- veto rights
A minority VC investor requires a veto right for Any veto rights personal to an indikey board and shareholder decisions. vidual shareholder will need to be enshrined in a separate shareholders agreement. The practical enforceability of such an agreement may be uncertain in many MENA jurisdictions. A VC investor often seeks equal board representation as the majority shareholder(s) or for independent directors to hold the balance of board power. The board will govern the company. It will be difficult to achieve such rights and the required board governance through the articles alone, so typically the VC investor will also rely on the shareholders agreement, the enforceability of which will be uncertain.
Board representation and board role.
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typical vc term Tranching
description VC investors often seek to mitigate risk by tranching their investment so that the investment amount is released in stages (as required to achieve the agreed business plan and where later tranches are usually subject to certain defined milestones being achieved).
mena local issue In most MENA jurisdiction all shareholders will need to sign documents (including new memoranda and articles of association) at the time new shares are issued. Accordingly, future share issues cannot be automated at the investors discretion and the investor must rely on the enforceability of covenants given by all shareholders to sign such documents (which enforceability may be uncertain). If the investor elects to convert and acquire additional shares, similar issues as above will apply to the issue of those shares.
Convertible loans
A VC investor may wish to provide a convertible loan to meet immediate cash needs prior to committing to an equity investment (or the equity investment may be subject to certain milestones being achieved first).
Options/other rights to issue of additional shares Anti-dilution protection
A VC investor often seeks options and other Same issues as above. rights to leverage its investment at pre-determined pricing. A VC investor commonly seeks protection against shares being issued at a lower price in the future. Typically the protection mechanism will require additional shares to be issued to the VC investor to reduce its average price per share to the new lower price (or a weighted average price). A VC investor typically requires the right to tag along on the same terms if any other shareholder wishes to sell their shares and to drag other shareholders in a sale where it wants to sell (and the purchaser requires a greater percentage shareholding than the VC investor holds). In addition to the issues described above which apply to any rights to additional shares, there will be additional issues associated with issuance of new shares for free (or at nominal value). Enforceability of tag and drag covenants may be uncertain. This creates an additional impediment to the procedural issues which may apply to any transfer of shares (where the requirement for replacement memorandum and articles of association to be signed by all shareholders to reflect the new ownership which typically applies under MENA company laws already seriously impedes a shareholders ability to sell shares in a private company). There are enforcement issues in respect of such rights in any jurisdiction but they will only be magnified in most MENA jurisdictions.
Drag and tag rights
Forced liquidation
A VC investor often has a theoretical right to force a company sale or IPO if an exit hasnt been achieved after a specified period, (typically five years from investment).
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A potential solution
As a consequence of the above issues (and others), many VC investments in MENA businesses are channelled through offshore holding vehicles, particularly in the Middle East. The Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and other tax neutral jurisdictions are generally favoured for GCC investments, (although local offshore/ free zone jurisdictions such as the DIFC in Dubai or QFC in Qatar might sometimes be considered depending on particular local considerations ) while EU or Mauritius are often favoured for Maghreb investments. In the Maghreb, fund localisation is generally either in EU or Mauritius. The investment agreements are also often governed by foreign laws (particularly in the Middle East where English law is predominant, although less prevalent in the Maghreb) and the parties often agree to resolve any disputes in foreign courts or by international arbitration. If a suitable offshore holding vehicle does not already exist, a restructuring of the investee group will be required (pre-investment) and local shareholdings flipped up into the offshore vehicle. The offshore vehicle will then be the economic owner of any local operating companies, although commonly its legal shareholding in any local operating companies will be restricted by applicable MENA foreign ownership restrictions (requiring majority local ownership) and further structuring devices will be required to ensure the holding vehicle has similar economic rights as it would have if the local companies were wholly-owned subsidiaries. All of this sounds complicated and not ideal, but is usually necessary to provide the VC investor with acceptable investment terms and legal protection. Local law issues may still impact on the effectiveness and enforceability of the structure to the extent key assets and enterprise value are still located locally, but at least the VC investor can exercise and enforce its rights in a more robust legal environment in relation to the vehicle which is the ultimate economic owner of those assets and value. Another positive factor is that the relevant structures are generally understood and accepted by the local MENA markets. They do not have to be invested and negotiations are generally focussed on the investment terms themselves rather than the acceptability of the structure (as they should be). * Note that many of the issues described in this section apply to a greater extent in the GCC than other parts of MENA.Maghreb and the Levant appear to more aligned with international VC practice in terms of legal challenges.
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11
Snapshot of MENA VC Firms

This chart is designed to provide a brief snapshot of MENA VC Firms. Those of you who read our first report, The Veeceeprener, Guide to MENA VC, may notice that some of the firms have been re-categorized. VC in MENA is a nascent industry and still evolving, and the VC Taskforce recently defined VC as per the definition at the front. We also exclude details of investment targets outside MENA (i.e., some firms may have a wider mandate to invest in other geographies, but for the purposes of this report, we provide details that pertain to MENA). Round B/C in the chart refers to financing after an initial seed stage. ICT = Information & Communications Technology TMT = Technology, Media & Telecommunications This report does not attempt to screen or endorse any of the information presented below. Region (Investment Focus) MENA MENA North Africa Development
Firm Accelerator Technology Holdings Amundi Aureos Capital
Stage Early/second
Investment Size (USD) 0.5M-5M 5-15M
stakeholding
Sector ICT/TMT General
Minority
2M-20M All sectors (consider smaller investments in health sector from 250K) ICT/Education General
Berytech Fund
Lebanon
Early/Growth 0-1M Late Stage VC 2-5M Early Stage (after seed/ before growth) Expansion Seed 1-7M
Minority
Capital Invest Morocco (BMCE Capital) Catalyst PE MENA (Primarily Levant/GCC) Morocco
Minority to Majority
Energy (renewable and oil/gas efficiency) and water services and technology companies
CDG Capital Private Equity
1-6M 0-650K Minority Various Various Minority Various Innovation General Technology Technology TMT Media and entertainment including online, gaming, mobile, television, animation and print Real Estate/Infrastructure/TMT/Healthcare/ Education Online services and digital media
DAYAM Fund & Morocco Sherpa Finance Dubai Silicon Oasis Fund Intilaq Ideavelopers twofour54 Ibtikar MENA MENA Egypt Abu Dhabi
Seed & Early 500k-1M (MENA only)/ Growth Seed/Growth 500k-1M Round B/C 1-5M Seed/Early/ 500K-5M growth
IT Ventures/ MENA Nile Capital IV Holdings MENA
All Stages Angel/Seed
1-10M 0-2M
Controlling Minority/Majority Controlling Minority
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Firm Intel Capital Malaz Capital Maroc Numeric Fund Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP)
Region (Investment Focus) MENA MENA Morocco primarily but not exclusively, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria
Stage
Investment Size (USD)
stakeholding
Sector ICT
Round B/C Angel/Seed/ Round B/C
1-2M 0-1M
Controlling Minority Minority/Controlling Minority Influential Minority
TMT TMT/ICT Favor consumer technology and retail sectors, but also consider ventures in other areas, such as services, logistics, food processing and hospitality General General
Early/Growth 200K-1.5M
Riva Y Garcia Catalyst PE
Maghreb MENA (Primarily Levant/GCC) Morocco MENA MENA
Late Stage VC 2-5M Early Stage (after seed/ before growth) Expansion Growth Various 1-6M 0.5-15M Various Influential Minority Various Growth/SME
CDG Capital Private Equity Riyada Enterprise Development Saffar
Multiple Sectors TMT/ICT/Education/ Retail/F&B/Healthcare, Financial Services & Other TMT - specific interest in Arabic Web Content and Applications, Financial Services and eCommerce, Mobile Content and Applications, Software-as-a-Service, and Converged Services
Sawari Ventures
MENA
Early/growth
250K-3M
Siraj Capital
GCC
Early/Growth 0-10M Seed/Early/ 500K-5M growth
Controlling Minority Various
All sectors except petrochemicals, high technology and biomedical Media and entertainment including online, gaming, mobile, television, animation and print Financial Sector General
twofour54 Ib- Abu Dhabi tikar
TuninvestAfricInvest Upline Investments Rising Tide Fund
North Africa Morocco
All Stages Angel/Seed
500K-5M 2-12 M
Minority
Middle East and Early/Growth 250k-2.5M North Africa
various
ICT, Mobile Apps, Healthcare and Green Tech
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12
angel/seed & other

Firm Region (Investment Focus) Stage Various Investment Size (USD) 0.5M-5M stakeholding Sector E-commerce/Online Retail Jabbar invests in Internet companies, but is not a typical VC type investment firm) Various Influential Minority Minority Minority Minority to Majority ICT , Digital Media, and Mobile Applications Sector agnostic, looks at potential investments in all sectors Internet & mobile IT Chemicals, consumer goods, Engineering procurement and construction, healthcare, IT outsourcing, real-estate development, telecom services
Jabbar Internet MENA Group
Oasis 500 Fund Jordan MENA Venture MENA Investments N2V PlugandPlayEgypt.com Venture Capital Bank MENA Middle East and North Africa MENA
Seed Angel / Seed Seed/Early/ Growth
0-50K 0 - 250k 0-2M+
Early/Growth 5k 50k Seed to pre-IPO 300K-120M
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social vc
Firm Bamboo Finance Region (Investment Focus) MENA Stage Expansion Investment Size (USD) 1 10 M stakeholding Minority Sector Access to energy, housing, education, health care, sanitation, agriculture, livelihood opportunities, etc Digital & social media Health, education, food and nutrition, community development, poverty alleviation and the environment.
Baraka Ventures Willow Tree
UAE MENA
Angel & Seed 0 to 250K Early/Growth 1-10 M
Various Influential Minority
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Incubators/Technology Parks & Related Entities

Algeria Start-up Initiative (ASI) Al Ghazela Berytech Algeria Tunisia Lebanon Promotes the creation of technology startups between Algeria and the USA Technology park A community of inspired and committed young business leaders engaged in supporting young entrepreneurs and promoting small businesses Aims to identify, incubate, host, network, train and support value-added business opportunities Hosts innovative ICT projects
Business Incubation Association in Lebanon Tripoli (BIAT) Casablanca Technopark Incubation Center Cyberparc Sidi Abdellah Dhahran Techno Valley Enterprise Qatar Envestors iPark Jordan Innovation Centers Network Morocco Algeria KSA Qatar UAE Jordan Jordan
Research and technology development nucleus with comprehensive business support Entity to support and develop the SME sector in Qatar A commercial organization that connects entrepreneurs with investors iPark ICT Business Incubator is the main incubator in Jordan, established under the HCST (Higher Council for Science and Technology) The JIC Network aims at developing an innovation culture based on a spirit of entrepreneurship enabling environmental, international cooperation and competitiveness, as well as collaboration between the research community and the business sector focusing on the development of innovation-based products and services, and their marketing and commercialization iPark (see above);
JIC University of Jordan: Agro-Industry JIC Al Hassan Industrial Estate: Technology JIC Philadelphia University: No sector focus; JIC Royal Scientific Society: Industrial
enterprises Khalifa Fund UAE Small business funding and development support for Emirati Nationals Hosts a Technology Incubators & Parks Program Platform where entrepreneurs are put in contact directly with investors (a service provided by Bader) Egypt Egypt A newly established incubator in Alexandria A platform for the launch and growth of early stage business in Egypt and Industry; Business Incubator;
King Abdulaziz City for Science and KSA Technology (KACST) LBA (Lebanese Business Angels Network) Tahrir2 Nebny Foundation
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Egypreneur Techwadi
Egypt Egypt
An online portal/community for Egyptian entrepreneurs. Silicon Valley-based non-profit working to promote entrepreneurship and foster economic development in the MENA region. TechWadi focuses on building bridges between the United States and the MENA region through high-impact mentorship, entrepreneurship in education, and exchange programs to Silicon Valley.
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directory
MENA Private Equity Association Member Firms
Malaz Capital
Malaz Capital focuses on managing venture capital funds that invest in technology in the MENA region. The Malaz VC fund is a growth-stage fund focused on ICT sector and targeting private companies in the MENA region or international companies aiming to expand in the MENA region Phone: +966 1 460 1644 E-mail: info@malazcapital.com Location: Riyadh-Saudi Arabia
Cedar Bridge Partners
Cedar Bridge invests in solid and promising MENA companies and management teams, which it supports financially and operationally to achieve exceptional growth. Cedar Bridge prides itself to be an innovative and independent strategic thinker with proprietary deals crafted and originated by our investment team using their deep sector expertise and vast global networks. We combine a conservative financial approach with practical local operational expertise. Cedar Bridge invests mainly in the core economies of the Middle East -- Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and UAE and focuses on the sectors where it has extensive investment and operational experience, mainly, education, healthcare, retail, and transportation. E-mail: info@cedar-bridge.com Location: Cairo-Egypt, Dubai - UAE Website: www.cedar-bridge.com
Riyada Enterprise Development (RED)
Riyada Enterprise Development (RED) is the small and medium enterprise (SME) investment platform of the Abraaj Group. It is a US$500 million initiative focused on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a focus on providing growth capital for influential minority and, in some cases, majority stakes in SMEs. The target investment size ranges from US$ 500 thousand to US$ 15 million. RED is sector agnostic but prefers entrepreneurially run and innovative businesses that are scalable into new regional markets, and that can leverage technology to support their work. Its primary focus is on profitable SMEs in need of capital and institutional and strategic support to grow. The RED initiative operates at both a regional and country-specific level, providing economies of scale and the ability to facilitate geographic expansion of its portfolio companies. The RED team is a dedicated unit within the Abraaj Group that operates solely on the SME initiative through a network of local offices that currently includes Dubai, Amman, Cairo, Ramallah and Beirut, with additional local offices being established in target countries throughout the region. Phone: Dubai +971 4 3191500, Amman +962 6 5347254, Beirut +961 1 964570, Cairo +202 2 4619930, Ramallah +970 2 2416000 Email: dubai@riyada.com, amman@riyada.com, beirut@riyada.com, cairo@riyada.com, ramallah@riyada.com Location: Dubai -UAE, Amman - Jordan, Cairo - Egypt, Beirut Lebanon, Ramallah-Palestine Website: www.riyada.com
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Saffar
Saffar is a MENA, regional financial services company focused on multisector direct investments in early, growth stage and greenfield business opportunities. Saffar assists entrepreneurs, corporate management teams and family-owned companies to launch new businesses or to scale or expand an existing business regionally. Phone: +971 4 373 5777 Email: info@saffar-capital.com Location: Dubai, UAE Website: www.saffar.com
Tuninvest-AfricInvest
The Tuninvest-Africinvest group is mainly targeting growth capital investments in SMEs that are well-established and positioned in their local market with the potential to scale up their activities on the regional level to build them into regional champions. We also selectively consider VC type investments in industries that we understand very well and where we think that we can impact the business through close proximity. Otherwise, we target significant minority (without excluding majority) positions, while adopting a hands on monitoring approach centreed around effective value addition. This, combined with our medium to long term view (4-6 year holding period), is consistent with the real needs of African SMEs. Phone: +216 7 118 9800 Email: contact@tuninvest.com, contact@africinvest.com Location: Tunis Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria, Kenya, Cote dIvoire Website: www.tuninvest.com
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Other MENA VC Firms/Funds

Accelerator Technology Holdings
Accelerator Technology Holdings acts through a group of companies established in Bahrain and Jordan to invest in ventures in the ICT value chain in the Arab world. www.acceleratortech.com
Aureos
Aureos invests in sustainable small and medium-sized businesses in emerging markets. www.aureos.com
Berytech
Berytech provides incubation, support and hosting opportunities to enterprises operating in the fields of Technology, Multimedia and Health. The Berytech fund invests in early growth Lebanese ICT companies. It has 19 shareholders of which Cisco & Intel Capital, 5 Banks, an insurance company, USJ University, Berytech (the incubator), and Lebanese ICT companies. www.berytechfund.org
Catalyst PE
Catalyst PE is a regional Energy and Water sector product and technology focused private equity firm that also invests in early stage companies in the energy and sector. www.catalystpe.com
DAYAM Fund
The DAYAM fund is backed upstream by Sherpa Finance , a non for profit entity sponsored by SAHAM Group, which aims to assist and foster Moroccan entrepreneurs. www.sherpafinance.com
Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO)

DSOs primary area of investment is high-tech, particularly mobile, Internet, data centres, Arabization/localization, software/SAAS, seimiconductors, as well as areas such as clean-tech and bio-tech, provided they intersect with the high-tech sector. DSO offers two types of tech-focused funds for strategic purposes: an early stage fund (for MENA based companies) and growth stage fund (MENA & non-MENA based companies). www.dsoa.ae
Ideavelopers
Ideavelopers is a subsidiary of EFG-Hermes Private Equity, and manages a $50 million fund focused on early stage technology companies. www.ideavelopers.com
Intel Capital
www.intelcapital.com
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Maroc Numeric Fund

Maroc Numeric Fund is the first venture capital fund in Morocco specialized in the information technology and communication sector with a size of $13m USD. The main investors are CDG, BMCE Bank, AttijariWafa Bank and BCP and the Moroccan Government. Maroc invests only in companies that have their main activity in morocco and/or their headquarters in morocco with a ticket size between $100K USD to $1M USD at seed/VC stage. www.mnf.ma
Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP)

Middle East Venture Partners has a MENA focus and invests in the early and growth stages primarily, but not exclusively, in Lebanon and the greater Levant region. The firm favors the consumer technology, consumer products, and consumer services sectors, but also consider ventures in other areas, such as logistics, food processing, and hospitality, among others. www.mevp.com
Nile Capital & IT Ventures

Invests in early stage, start-up, and growth companies in telecommunications, information technology, and high-tech sectors in Egypt, the Arab world, and global markets. The firm in low-medium risk businesses. The companys fund had committed capital of $110 million and focused on Information, Communication, and Technology companies. The Fund made 45 investments in a period of five years, and has made 34 realizations to date. www.nile-capital.com www.it-investment.com
Rising Tide
Rising Tide is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund targeting innovative early-stage technology companies in MENA in ICT, mobile applications, healthcare, and green tech. www.risingtidefund.com
Sawari Ventures
Sawari Ventures focuses on investments in technology-driven companies seeking to build new markets with significant growth potential, in the early and growth stage. The sector focus is on TMT with specific interest in Arabic Web Content and Applications, Financial Services and eCommerce, Mobile Content and Applications, Software-as-aService, and Converged Services www.sawariventures.com
Siraj Capital
Siraj Capital focuses on early stage growth capital investments and opportunistic Islamic finance transactions. www.sirajcapital.com
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16
Angel/Seed & Other Investment Firms

Jabbar Internet Group
Jabbar Internet group was formed after the sale of maktoob.com, the largest Arabic portal, to Yahoo. Although Jabbar is not a typical VC firm, it invests in Internet companies in various stages focusing on the e-commerce and online retail sector. Jabbar has seven investments in different Internet companies including Souq.com the largest Arab online marketplace. Other portfolio companies include Cashu.com,Ikoo.com,Cobone.com, Sukar.com, Joob.com and Tahadi.com. www.jabbar.com
MENA Venture Investments

MENA Venture Investments provides angel and seed funding to entrepreneurs with ventures that have strong growth potential. www.menaventureinvestments.com
National Technology Enterprises Company (NTEC)

http://www.ntec.com.kw
N2V
N2V is an internet holding company with offices in Riyadh, Dubai, Amman, Cairo, & California, with a core business of building & investing in innovative consumer web & mobile ventures. http://www.n2v.com
Oasis 500
Oasis500 is an early stage and seed investment company. Oasis500 nurtures creative ideas in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), mobile and digital media. Oasis 500 aims to provide capital to 500 start-ups in five years. www.oasis500.com
PlugandPlayEgypt
PlugandPlayEgypt is a Silicon Valley-linked company accelerator program, in partnership with Plugand PlayTechCenter, an incubator with 280+ technology start-ups in Silicon Valley. The PlugandPlayEgypt program includes facilities and connectivity, targeted mentorship, seed capital and support, as well as access to international networks. http://plugandplayegypt.com
Venture Capital Bank

An Islamic investment bank specializing in VC investment opportunities in a variety of fields www.vc-bank.com
Twofour54 Ibitkar
twofour54 Ibtikar provides financing and support for businesses and individuals targeting the Arab media and entertainment industry. Our primary focus is to support Arab entrepreneurs and businesses from the region that are willing to be based at twofour54, with the aim of creating a diversified Arabic content creation industry in Abu Dhabi. www.ibtikar.twofour54.com
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17
social vc
Bamboo Finance
Bamboo Finance advises the Luxembourg based Oasis Fund investing in innovative, commercially viable enterprises which are designed to generate significant social impact and attractive financial return. As of today the fund has received commitments of $51 million from private and institutional investors. The fund has an actively managed portfolio of 12 companies diversified across sectors and geographies benefitting low income communities. www.bamboofinance.com
Baraka Ventures
Baraka supports social ventures and sustainable businesses with a triple bottom line. The investment focus is digital media and online in consumer and business internet within projects that have a high social impact. This includes creating tools and services that help companies wanting to get more engaged, government agencies looking for more participation and NGOs looking for new ways to give and receive support. www.baraka.ae
WillowTree
WillowTree is an impact investment firm that manages social impact funds. The funds invest in for-profit businesses that are committed to generating positive, sustainable and demonstrable social and environmental impact coupled with market-based financial returns. The sectors of interest are health, education, food and nutrition, community development, poverty alleviation and the environment. Companies of interest are those that have a proven business model to deliver impact with profit and in need of further financing to create growth and scale. www.willowimpact.com
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18
appendix
The following data provides an overview of the general macro environment in MENA.
MENA Macro-economic Data 1

Raymond Soueid, Booz & Company
GCC macro-economic investment drivers Main Structural Factors of Investment Landscape (Selection, Non-Exhaustive)
Key Input for enabling Economic Activity Availability of Capital Loans/GDP(1) GCC Bahrain Kuwait Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia UAE 50% 61% 38% 47% 42% 61% Factors driving Demand for Products and Services from the Region GDP(2) $US Bn. 1,222 24 150 62 153 544 290 Population(2) Mn. 41.1 2 26.4 5.3 2 26.4 5.3 Forecasted Population Growth(3) CAGR10-20 2.0% 1.5% 2.0% 1.9% 2.6% 2.0% 2.1% Business Enabling Infrastructure Enabling Infrastructure(4) Infras. Spending / GDP 29.6% 27.2% 37.0% 25.0% 31.8% 24.2% Institutional Framweork Index of Economic Freedom (IEF)(5) As ref., IEFUS = 81 69 76 68 68 69 64 67
The GCC countries, with 41 million inhabitants, represent roughly 12 per cent of the total MENA population, and have an overall GDP of around USD1,220 billion. The GCC population is expected to grow at a CAGR of two per cent in the next 10 years, increasing consumption opportunities. With an average infrastructure spend to GDP ratio of around 30 per cent, the GCC constitutes a major part of overall MENA demand for infrastructure capital, which is estimated by the OECD to reach more than USD300 billion for the next 10 years. In Qatar, the governments road, rail, port and airport expansion plans, which will be the focus of nearterm investment, amount to over USD60 billion.
1. All chart figures (GDP and Population) are as of 2011, unless otherwise specified. Sources used include: Central banks, Global investment house, The Arab World Competitiveness Review 2010; United Nations Population Fund; IMF; World Bank, Global Insight 2011 data; Economic Intelligence Unit, Nomura; Standard Chartered (data collected as average of 2007-08-09), Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom 2010 Report; Economic freedom is measured based on business, trade, fiscal, monetary investment, corruption and labor freedoms along with government size and property rights
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GCC Investment sectors
The telecommunications sector in general, seems attractive in the GCC. According to the UAE ministry of health, the healthcare sector is increasingly attracting large amounts of investments even after the crisis in the UAE The traditional sectors in the GCC remain attractive such as the oil equipment, services and distribution and the gas, water and multi-utilities
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Levant macro-economic investment drivers Main Structural Factors of Investment Landscape (Selection, Non-Exhaustive)
Key Input for enabling Economic Activity Availability of Capital Loans/GDP(1) Levant Lebanon Jordan Syria Iraq 58% 75% 42% Factors driving Demand for Products and Services from the Region GDP(2) $US Bn. 283.7 42 30 66 147 Population(2) Mn. 66.1 4.3 6.6 23 32.2 Forecasted Population Growth(3) CAGR10-20 1.9% 0.7% 1.5% 1.6% 2.3% Business Enabling Infrastructure Enabling Infrastructure(4) Infras. Spending / GDP 38.8% 38.8% Institutional Framweork Index of Economic Freedom (IEF)(5) As ref., IEFUS = 81 58 60 66 49 -
The Levant countries house around 66 million inhabitants and have an overall GDP of around USD284 billion. While the Levant population is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.9 per cent over the coming 10 years, the GDP is expected to grow at around 8.8 per cent on a nominal basis; as such the GDP per capita is expected to increase substantially. This will translate into increasing consumer spending in domestic markets.
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Levant Investment Sectors
Fixed line telecommunications, the support services and the banks seem to be attractive The banking sector is relatively secure and attracts deposits from the region, growing the sector substantially as well as generating returns. This was proven on the Lebanese scene during the last crisis where Lebanese banks, due to prudent asset allocation and regulatory restrictions, maintained stability and growth, attracting more funds from the GCC and other countries Note: Analysis excludes Iraq and Syria for lack of data
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North Africas macro-economic investment drivers Main Structural Factors of Investment Landscape (Selection, Non-Exhaustive)
Key Input for enabling Economic Activity Availability of Capital Loans/GDP(1) North Africa Egypt Tunisia Morocco Algeria Libya Sudan 38% 42% 62% 79% 29% 16% 1% Factors driving Demand for Products and Services from the Region GDP(2) $US Bn. 627.8 185 48 102 177 50 66 Population(2) Mn. 215.1 86 10.5 32 36 6.5 44.1 Forecasted Population Growth(3) CAGR10-20 1.4% 1.5% 0.8% 1.0% 1.3% 1.5% 1.8% Business Enabling Infrastructure Enabling Infrastructure(4) Infras. Spending / GDP 35.7% 32.0% 27.3% 44.3% Institutional Framweork Index of Economic Freedom (IEF)(5) As ref., IEFUS = 81 55 59 59 59 57 40 -
The North African population is expected to grow at a rate of 1.4 per cent per year over the next 10 years. Meanwhile the GDP is expected to grow at 7.5 per cent Infrastructure spending in North Africa is estimated at around 36 per cent of the nominal GDP, with Algeria recording the highest spend in terms of percentage of GDP and actual value.
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North Africa investment sectors
Interesting sectors to consider targeting in North Africa are Construction & Materials, Real Estate and the Food and Drugs Retailers for their high growth and relatively high profitability Focusing on Egypts construction sector just prior to the latest political reforms, it is worth noting that by 2015, sector spending was expected to increase to USD7.3 billion and the countrys residential construction segment was expected to increase to USD606 million. Meanwhile, the countrys non-residential construction segment was expected to increase to USD6.7 billion in 2015
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Macro-Economic and Demographic Environment in other regional countries Main Structural Factors of Investment Landscape (Selection, Non-Exhaustive)
Key Input for enabling Economic Activity Availability of Capital Loans/GDP(1) Others Yemen Iran Palestine 43% 12.10% 81% Factors driving Demand for Products and Services from the Region GDP(2) $US Bn. 1183.8 37.6 408.6 5.58 Population(2) Mn. 181.9 24.9 76 4.36 Forecasted Population Growth(3) CAGR10-20 1.3% 2.6% 1.0% 2.6% Business Enabling Infrastructure Enabling Infrastructure(4) Infras. Spending / GDP Institutional Framweork Index of Economic Freedom (IEF)(5) As ref., IEFUS = 81 54 54 43 -
There is a huge disparity in the Loan to Nominal GDP ratio within the remaining regional countries, ranging from 12 per cent in Yemen to 81 per cent in Iran. The low ratio of Yemen is partially due to the fact that, until recently, 45 per cent of all loans in Yemen were supplied by Islamic banks, which abide by stringent financing principles. The unusually high rate in Iran is mainly due to the governments initiative to stimulate business and investments, aiming at an economic independence from a sanctioning West. Iran, with nominal 409 billion and a population of around 76 million, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.0 per cent in the coming ten years. Palestine and Yemen have a combined GDP of only USD43 billion and have a small combined population of 29 million, expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.6 per cent over the next 10 years and representing the highest forecasted population growth of the whole Middle East. Yemen was planning to invest USD5 billion in developing its power generation and infrastructure and willing to put forward 20 per cent of the needed funding.
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MENA Private Equity Association

The MENA Private Equity Association is a non-profit entity committed to supporting and developing the private equity and venture capital industry in the Middle East and North Africa. The Association aims to foster greater communication within the regions private equity and venture capital network and facilitate knowledge sharing in order to encourage overall economic growth, and will actively promote the industrys successes to local stakeholders and build trust with investors, regulators and the public regionally and internationally.
www.menapea.com
RANDOM FACT
THE ASSOCIATION LOGO
Designed by Nick Gibb, New Zealands Top Comedian
Like any new enterprise, the MENA Private Equity Association started small an idea on a blank page, and to get to the next step we had to beg and plead for help. In the spirit of entrepreneurship, Nick Gibb, at the time a graphic designer and aspiring comedian, stepped in semi-voluntarily and helped to create our branding and logo. With a little bit of cash in hand from the work, Nick left his day job to pursue a goal of making it on his own. After a year of scrapping together freelance jobs, and the odd comedy gig, Nick was recently awarded New Zealands top comedy prize - and is now ready to take on the world.
Our logo now serves as a daily reminder that it takes hard work and perseverance to achieve great things, and more importantly, to have fun and not take too seriously all the little things that dont go quite right along the way.
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Supporter Profiles
20
Supporter Profiles
Booz & Company
Booz & Company is a leading global management consulting firm, helping the worlds top businesses, governments and organizations. Our founder, Edwin Booz, defined the profession when he established the first management consulting firm in 1914. Today, with more than 3,300 people in 60 offices around the world, we bring foresight and knowledge, deep functional expertise, and a practical approach to building capabilities and delivering real impact. We work closely with our clients to create and deliver essential advantage. The independent White Space report ranked Booz & Company #1 among consulting firms for the best thought leadership in 2011. For our management magazine strategy+business visit strategy-business.com. For the Ideation Center, Booz & Companys leading think tank in the Middle East, visit ideationcenter.com. Visit booz.com and booz.com/me to learn more about Booz & Company.
The Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC)

The Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC) is a not-for-profit organization, with public and private funding, whose mission is to help build the sound financial systems needed to support robust market economies in developing countries. FSVCs work concentrates on strengthening banking systems and regulators, and building capital markets from start-ups through to public bourses through technical advisory missions staffed by senior financial sector practitioners who serve as volunteer advisors. Over the past twenty years, 8,000 experts from the international financial, legal and regulatory communities have taken part in 2,200 FSVC missions, reaching 34,000 counterparts in 50 countries. From 2004 to 2011, FSVC implemented a program to promote access to finance for small businesses in the Developing MENA region with extensive country activity in Jordan, Egypt and the Maghreb. Programs focused on working with banks to address the unique needs of entrepreneurs. The Maghreb program also focused on assisting in the development of an expanding venture capital sector, through work with the Moroccan Venture Capital Association (AMIC) and individual venture capital managers and related financial institutions, and the market regulator.
45
Supporter Profiles
KPMG
KPMG is a global network of professional firms operating in 150 countries with over 138,000 people working in member firms around the world. KPMG in the UAE was established in 1974 and has grown to 900 professional staff led by 30 Partners, across 8 offices in the country. We have established our presence among market leaders in the region, providing clients with Audit, Tax and Advisory services to identify and manage risks and maximise opportunity. Over the years we have had the opportunity to work with leading industryplayers in the region and play a pivotal role in helping them make their success stories. At various stages of their growth, our clients look to us for timely and independent advice in helping them in their decision making. Our professionals are selected from a talent pool of industry specialists, backed by an in depth knowledge base, local experience, client focused approach and above all a close network with professionals across our member firms the world over. The extensive range of services we provide our clients include the following: Audit, Tax advisory, Transaction services, Corporate finance, Restructuring services, IT advisory, Business performance services, Internal audit risk and compliance services, Forensic services, Business process outsourcing, Financial risk management.
Norton Rose
Norton Rose Group is a leading international legal practice. We offer a full business law service from offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. We are strong in financial institutions; energy; infrastructure and commodities; transport; and technology. Norton Rose Group comprises Norton Rose LLP, Norton Rose Australia and their respective affiliates. The Group has more than 1800 lawyers worldwide. Norton Rose Group has one of the leading private equity practices in the MENA region. We have acted on the establishment of many of the funds which are active in the region as well as investments by those funds and other private equity investors. On 1 June 2011, two leading law firms Ogilvy Renault in Canada and Deneys Reitz in South Africa with its pan-African division, Africa Legal will join Norton Rose Group. The enlarged Group will have 2500 lawyers, and offices in Montral, Ottawa, Qubec, Toronto, Calgary, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, with an associate office in Tanzania.
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s upporter p
ZAWYA
Over 800,000 professionals from around the world, rely on Zawya to nd North Africa region. Backed by our team of in-house private equity and right private equity strategy and stay ahead of regional SWF developments. Zawyas Private Equity Monitor, which empowers PE professionals with the most comprehensive coverage of the asset class, including unbiased research, in-depth analysis, and the latest news and intelligence. It allows you to gain sharp insight into private equity fund performance by comparMembers can also determine performance trends, compare the values of areas of funds being raised, closing sizes, sectors, and countries of investment.
CAPITAL MSL
providing counsel to many of the worlds leading businesses and nancial by the management team, Capital MSL is a member of MSLGROUP, the
Middle East, Capital MSL is widely recognised as a top ve strategic comover ten years from two wholly-owned oces in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as through aliates and partners in the main markets of the Middle East and North Africa. Clients include a wide range of private, public and government-related clients across the region.
47
Supporter Profiles
CPI FINANCIAL
The professional face of financial media, CPI Financial is the Middle Easts leading financial publisher with a portfolio of market-leading products educating and informing readers about the latest trends and developments in banking and finance as it affects them. Our journals offer unique insights to readers in the MENA region and around the world.
Banker Middle East

Banker Middle East, our flagship title, serves the needs of the banking and finance industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Accurate reporting, in-depth analysis and unbiased editorial for more than a decade have established the magazine as the most authoritative voice of the banking industry in the region.
Islamic Business & Finance

Islamic Business & Finance is the only truly global magazine reporting on the growth and development of this exciting and dynamic industry. Islamic assets under management have passed the $1 trillion mark. With a global Muslim population of nearly two billion people and a broad ethical appeal as well, double digit year-on-year growth will continue.
financeME
financeME is designed for the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), helping to inform and advise SME financial officers, managers and owners about their financial options and other issues relating to developing businesses in the region.
WEALTH
WEALTH guides High Net Worth Individuals in the UAE towards a safe, secure and profitable future. The magazine entertains, informs, educates and reassures the UAEs HNWIs about issues surrounding investment risk and portfolio management.
CPI Financial 100

The CPI Financial 100 defines the parameters of successful management for banks in the Middle East, offering quantitative and qualitative analysis of banks licensed and domiciled in the Middle East. Published twice a year, it offers a clear, straight-forward ranking of banks, giving equal weighting to relative size and relative improvement in performance. CPI Financial FZ LLC PO Box 502491.Al Shatha Tower, Office 3306 Dubai Media City, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 (0) 4 391 4680 Fax: +971 (0) 4 390 9576 www.cpifinancial.net
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Supporter Profiles
focus 360 arabia

Focus 360 Arabia is a research based consultancy and brand development enterprise. Headquartered in Dubai, and envisioned to serve local and multinational businesses throughout the entire MENA region, Focus 360 Arabia is prominently positioned as the information hub of the Middle East. Our primary objective is to offer strategic partnerships with our clients that will enable and empower regional growth through research, brand strategy, corporate reputation management, strategic planning, creative execution and project management consulting. We utilize proprietary research and corporate reputation models which will help to refine vision, empower employees, and improve customer loyalty through strategic consumer insight driven solutions. Our process includes the following menu of services: Competitive Analysis/Market Audits Target Market Analysis Positioning Development and Validation Segmentation Studies Qualitative Studies Feasibility analysis Through our 360 degree approach, we will also analyze various intangible assets, such as brand potential based upon its cultural relevance in the Arabic marketplace and how it can best be differentiated in order to maximize potential and profitability.
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Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Key criteria used to define VC firms and transactions also include:

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Business Plan Competitions

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

united arab emirates

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO): A Government entity established in 2003 to

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia & Libya

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

MENA Venture Capital Investment Data

Number of VC Transactions since 2006

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

sector concentration since 2006

regional concentration since 2006

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

funds raised cumulative funds raised since 2000

funds raised Source: Zawya Private Equity Monitor

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

legal challenges for mena vc

Reserved matters- veto rights

Board representation and board role.

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

typical vc term Tranching

Options/other rights to issue of additional shares Anti-dilution protection

Drag and tag rights

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Snapshot of MENA VC Firms

Firm Accelerator Technology Holdings Amundi Aureos Capital

Investment Size (USD) 0.5M-5M 5-15M

Sector ICT/TMT General

CDG Capital Private Equity

IT Ventures/ MENA Nile Capital IV Holdings MENA

All Stages Angel/Seed

Controlling Minority/Majority Controlling Minority

Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa Report

Investment Size (USD)

Round B/C Angel/Seed/ Round B/C

Controlling Minority Minority/Controlling Minority Influential Minority

Riva Y Garcia Catalyst PE

Maghreb MENA (Primarily Levant/GCC) Morocco MENA MENA

CDG Capital Private Equity Riyada Enterprise Development Saffar

Early/Growth 0-10M Seed/Early/ 500K-5M growth

Controlling Minority Various

twofour54 Ib- Abu Dhabi tikar

TuninvestAfricInvest Upline Investments Rising Tide Fund

North Africa Morocco

All Stages Angel/Seed