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DUBAI – Around 40% of investors in new UAE startups come from outside the MENA region.
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Success stories such as Souq, Careem and Instashop highlight exit and growth opportunities in the region.
The UAE’s vibrant startup ecosystem continues to attract investment, a trend that will only intensify as the region sets the tone for recovery. Magnitt said that the UAE Venture Capital Report showed that as of the first quarter of 2021, about 40% of investors in new UAE startups came from investors outside the Middle East and North Africa.
Gopa Kumar, Managing Director and Senior Executive at Amicorp Capital.
Philip Bahoshy, CEO of Magnitt, said: “As new startups mature and reach scale, they become more interesting to international investors who show continued interest in the MENA region. Success stories such as Souq, Careem and Instashop highlight With exit opportunities and increasing opportunities in the region, we expect this trend to continue into 2021.”
Philip Bahoshi, CEO of Magnit.
Gopa Kumar, managing director and senior CEO of Amicorp Capital, echoed similar sentiments, saying: “Despite the pandemic, the Middle East has attracted over $1 billion in venture capital investment. The UAE accounts for the largest share, accounting for 56%. 33 of the 50 startups with the highest funding in the Middle East are based in the UAE. UAE and Middle East venture capital firms have been active investors for many years. However, from the perspective of From eye-popping investments in high-end Pure Harvest and Kitopi, to smaller investments in Eat, Mamopay and others from Wafra, Lumia and others, you can see the trend of global venture capital firms making big bets. Global Founders Capital and 500 New Startups Co. There was a slight pause in the second quarter of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the floodgates will be open later this year and in the first quarter of 2022, driven by the UAE’s forward-looking investor-friendly policies aimed at attracting capital and the easing of the pandemic in various sectors. Season opens. Parts of the world.”
Daniel Seal, founder and executive chairman of Deltaworks.
Daniel Seal, founder and executive chairman of Deltaworks, is also an innovator, angel investor and entrepreneur. He is an expert in creating new innovation ecosystems and advising governments on how to develop the digital economy. Seal is an active angel investor who has invested in HealthTech (Voyagers Health Fund), AR (Ripple), Acoustagram and other companies. He founded Unbound in 2012 and sold Unbound’s controlling stake to a wholly-owned subsidiary in June 2018. Our company, SingEx Temasek Holdings, is an investment company of the Singapore government. According to reports, Temasek has more than US$250 billion in assets under management as of March 2021. Unbound is a global leader in innovation festivals in Singapore, London and Abu Dhabi.
Swethal Kumar, CEO of Startupscale360 and co-founder of The Crossroads.
Seal said: “There has been a significant shift in investment by global VCs in the Middle East and UAE. Traditionally, non-MENA VCs/investors have had limited traction at the seed and Series A stages. This is due to a variety of reasons factors, but recent developments in the region have changed that. We recently witnessed Egyptian startup Telda secure a $5 million investment from a consortium led by Sequoia Capital, and now, more investment is set to happen. Red Shan is one of the most prominent investors in the world, so others will follow. Our expansion plan is to launch at least two new fintech companies in the UAE through our DeltaWorks platform by the end of 2021. DeltaWorks is a venture capital firm focused on emerging markets and creating companies in the UAE to expand into countries and regions in the Middle East and North Africa, Africa and other high-growth markets.”
Despite the challenges of 2020, the entrepreneurial space continues to mature at an unprecedented rate. Nuwa Capital will actively invest in markets such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. “The UAE and Saudi Arabia are two very strong markets that many of our companies need to grow or expand in, and we will work hard to bridge the gap between the two markets,” said Stephanie, Network & Partner Stephanie Nour Prince said. Operations, Nuwa Capital. “We are seeing an increase in interest from global venture capital firms. While it may be early days, we will certainly see more multinationals entering, driven by the types of opportunities being created in the UAE and the Middle East and North Africa more broadly. The dynamics of the market have changed dramatically and we are seeing businesses launched by founders with very unique track records (Valeo, Flexxpay, eyewa, Homzmart, etc.) growing at an incredible rate and becoming traditional peers strong contenders. On the other hand, we may also see new sources of capital looking to invest in the space and seek synergies with new startups.”
The region has certainly witnessed a surge in investment in areas such as fintech, edtech and e-commerce. Swethal Kumar, CEO of Startupscale360 and co-founder of The Crossroads, said: “The MENA region is currently much more mature than the pre-pandemic period. Some investments are slowly moving towards Series C, which could become an interesting playground for YCombinator in the region. The number of participants is also growing, including new startups such as Ziina, Flextock, Dayra and NowPay.”
“US-based global investment house Sequoia Capital marks its first investment in the region by leading a $5 million pre-seed investment in Neo-Bank Telda,” Kumar added. Berlin-based Global Founders Capital also participated in the round. It made its first investment in the region and subsequently participated in Valeo’s $3 million seed investment. California-based Rocketship.vc invested in 10 of the 44 investments in India, and is betting on Saudi Arabia-based B2B marketplace Sary, in which it participated in a roughly $31 million Series B round led by Venture Souq. Another example is California-based AgFunder’s investment in Saudi Arabia-based Retailo’s nearly $7 million seed round with Shorooq Partners. Conversely, the regional fund also has Global Venture, for example, recently led a nearly $11 million Pre-Series A round at the University of Nexford in the US.”
Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global technology ecosystem, has joined forces with Modus Capital, a New York-based venture capital and venture capital firm, to launch Ventures Lab. The venture capital firm will enable early-stage founders from around the world to develop successful and scalable new startups in Abu Dhabi. Hub71’s Venture Capital Lab is the first venture capital project launched by Modus in the UAE.
Kareem Elsirafy, managing partner at Modus Capital, said: “We are seeing more and more international investors showing interest in the region, and the UAE in particular, and realizing that there is incredible talent here, creating a lot of value in the region. value and export it to other markets. We have first-hand experience of initially establishing ourselves outside the region (the United States) and shifting our focus to the MENA region, providing full-cycle operational construction and How to invest. The secret is starting to leak out. Together with Hub71, we plan to increase the intensity of the Venture Capital Lab and continue our work by continuing to offer our venture capital expertise to businesses as a new and effective innovation mechanism for their organizations. expansion. Over the remainder of the year, we hope to invest at least another $5 million. “
— sandhya@khaleejtimes.com
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