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Monday, 22 November 2021

VentureSouq launches USD 50 mn MENA fintech fund

Dubai-headquartered Venture capital firm VentureSouq has formally launched a USD 50 mn fintech fund that has already made several investments in Egyptian startups this year, it said in a statement (pdf). The MENA Fintech Fund I has deployed capital in Egyptian digital trucking platform Trella, which this year closed a USD 42 mn series A round, and fintech startup Dayra, which raised USD 3 mn in pre-seed funding in March.

About the fund: The MENA Fintech Fund I invests in early-stage fintech and software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, with a special focus on payments infrastructure, alternative credit, digital banking, and personal financial management. The fund is backed by sovereign wealth funds including Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, Mubadala, ADQ and Bahrain’s Mumtalakat, as well as multinationals such as the Olayan Group’s Middle East investment arm OFC. The fund is billing itself as the first fintech-only fund with a MENA-plus-Pakistan focus.

The beneficiaries so far: The fund has also invested in North African super-app Yassir, GCC-based buy-now-pay-later Tabby and Saudi B2B marketplace Sary among others. Crunchbase shows VentureSouq has made at least 95 investments since inception.

The VC has always had an appetite for fintech: Prior to the fund, the VC invested in a number of FinTech companies, including Jeeves, Khatabook, FamPay and Fondeadora.

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