A staggering $27 Million fund will be raised out for the core high-rated net-worth public, family establishments, institutional investors as well as aid in pre-seeded as well as seed-staged start-ups within the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) territory, with core focus on Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-Arabian centred Venture Capital Firm Nama Ventures, is all poised to elevate SAR100 million ($26.7Million) to garner the investment fund, with the Pandemic that has caused a lot thorn in the progression of tech Start-ups in the nation.
The funding will be upsurged from host of high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), family run businesses, as well as global and native institutional investors. Abdullah Alaraj, the Managing Partner for Nama Ventures, stated that: “The fund, which is already launched, is anticipated to be concluded soon. Besides HNIs and family run businesses, we are also in conversation with acquiring sovereign funds in the territory [for participation in this fund].”
Alaraj, an academic-turned-investor, and his partner in Nama Ventures, Mohammed Alzubi, an engineer-turned-investor, are equally Silicon Valley veterans and have harvested the start-ups themselves earlier.
Alaraj, who himself has an astounding track record for investing in excess of 20 Start-Ups across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the US, the UK, South America, and as well as in India, further revealed out that: “Part of the fund will also be invested in some of the Silicon Valley based ventures, where we enjoy great syndication partners and proprietary access.”
He also added that Nama Ventures so far has been very effective because of its viewpoint regarding the start-up investments built on numerous differentiators.
Alaraj, who is also a co-founder and chairman of Riyadh Angel Investors, a Riyadh-based angel network, also further stated out that: “For an instance, we invest in teams and do not back solo [run] start-ups. It’s our most important criteria. We also want to lead start-ups, along with their founders, helping the ventures to grow from a seed to a forest, rolling up our sleeves and pruning them to realize and reach their full growth potential, as stated by Alaraj, who has a Ph.D. in computer sciences and is also the member of the UK Business Angel Association.
Nama Ventures, a promoter of two unicorns, is all in pursuit to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage start-ups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) territory, with an attention on Saudi Arabia.
So far, the Venture Capitalists Nama Ventures has invested in over 16 primary stage start-ups that includes
- E-grocery delivery service Basket;
- Rent-a-car venture eZhire;
- Online floral marketplace Floranow;
- GrocerApp;
- EduTech ventue Faheem;
- Termii, which helps industries utilize the digital messaging channel;
- PalmHR, a fully automated HRMS; as well as the
- Wafeer, a private finance management app that tracks clients’ expenditures instantaneously.
As per the conclusive evidence proven by the latest report offered in by Magnitt, “Venture capital funding has witnessed out an upsurge in Saudi Arabia in the upcoming years, with start-ups recording a 55 percent upsurge in funding in the preceding year in 2020 over that in the previous years.”
Alaraj further added out that: “Our fund is focused on fueling technology innovation in MENA, particularly in KSA.”
The report also stated that while Saudi Arabia sustained its ranking of third place for both quantity of deals and capital invested in the MENA territory the preceding year, the nation also posted the peak progress rate for start-up deals, suggestively contracting the gap between KSA and Egypt.
