Venture Capital | Page 2

Nama Ventures founder and Managing Partner Mohammed Alzubi explains why his firm adopts a people-focused approach when investing in MENA startups.

Fintech has revolutionized the world's business, from mobile banking to cryptocurrency, but its impact has not been restricted to the financial industry. Among other sectors, it is starting to have a sizeable influence on healthcare, making healthcare fintech an ideal investment choice.

Are you wondering whether it is the right time to raise funds for your startup? The answer will be different for every company.

Annelie Ajami launched Anamcara Capital, an Abu Dhabi-headquartered pre-seed and seed stage venture fund investing in B2B technologies, in 2021 with a firm decision that founders will always top her agenda.

While it's easy to focus on the financial aspects of a business plan to secure investment, there are other key areas that are often overlooked.

Farha says that he was driven to launch his new VC firm after coming to the realization that the majority of relationships that currently exist between founders and investors in the region is one of fear, manipulation, and power dynamics.

Together with his two partners, Muna AbuSulayman and Rama Chakaki, Raed Masri hopes that the work Transform VC that does will become a pillar of support for enterprising individuals with Middle Eastern roots looking to build businesses in the US.

Global Ventures, a Dubai-based venture capital firm, recently held its Annual General Meeting 2021 to bring together its portfolio founders and investors and nurture a community of growth and knowledge-sharing.

Mahmoud Almarzouq, Investment Manager, KISP Ventures, on how his firm encourages founder-friendly financing terms in order to give MENA entrepreneurs a level playing field

Despite being a small market in itself, the Tunisian VC opportunity should not be overlooked.

The pandemic seems to have driven the region's VCs to be more sophisticated and strategic in how they deploy capital, and also to be bolder.

Led by General Partners Noor Sweid and Basil Moftah, this enterprise proudly declares on its website that its vision is global, and its focus is growth- and Global Ventures has been clearly exhibiting its premise by supporting entrepreneurs in emerging markets that are working to "change the world."

"Having more meaningful time to think and rethink through an investment, especially in a changing and unprecedented global context, has proven to be really valuable."

VCs investing in the region have been right to be cautious so far, but now it's time for them to show a little Middle Eastern boldness of their own.

With venture capitalists (VCs), it's very important to get down to the venture capital term sheet as soon as you can.

CSR, diversity, employee engagement, and retention -the non-financial and non-market related factors, the soft facts until recently were little more than a box-ticking exercise for investors– have taken on a renewed prominence in any VC's decision-making process.

Using a combination of equity investments and incentives, ADQ and ADIO aim to provide opportunities to avail Abu Dhabi's digital infrastructure, regulatory framework, and R&D initiatives.

"In many ways, for the VC world, the pandemic is business as usual. Innovation never sleeps, and neither does the money that funds it."

At the end of the day, it is the teams that trust each other and can work well together who can survive a crisis together.

Venture investors can learn from this, and not only continue to invest in great founders with big ideas through this rough patch, but also perhaps more than ever before support their existing portfolio companies.

At the end of the day, much of this is out of our control, and out of the control of our portfolio companies. What we can do is start stress testing- turn this into a new variable.