VentureSouq, a UAE-based venture capital firm, has launched a $50 million fund, MENA FinTech Fund I, focused on fintech in the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan.
About: VentureSouq was founded in 2016 by Suneel & Sonia Gokhale, Maan Eshgi, Tammer Qaddumi, and Sonia Weymuller. It has operations in the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
Since its founding, VentureSouq has invested in more than 200 companies in the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
Fund thesis: Having anticipated that digital adoption would increase in the region following the pandemic, it began to explore how fintech adoption might occur.
The new fund will invest in early-stage Fintech and SaaS startups. It will actively look for startups in the payments infrastructure, alternative credit, virtual banking, Proptech, Insurtech, and personal financial management segments.
Tell me more: VentureSouq has already invested capital in startups across the MENAP region.
Startups from Pakistan include:
- Tajir
- Creditbook
- PostEx
- Abhi (salary advance startup)
In the UAE, it has invested in:
- Tabby (a BNPL)
- Huspy (PropTech)
- Baraka
- Flexxpay
- NymCard
- Verity
The fund has also invested in Egypt-based and North Africa-based startups.
The new Fund is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Jada Fund of Funds and Saudi Venture Capital Company, Bahrain’s Al Waha Fund of Funds, ADQ’s venture platform DisruptAD and Mubadala Investment Company in the United Arab Emirates, and OFC, the Middle East investment unit of The Olayan Group.
