VentureSouq launches Mena region’s first fintech fund
DUBAI, November 21, 2021
GCC-based venture capital firm VentureSouq (VSQ) has announced the launch of its Mena FinTech Fund I, the region’s first sector-specific fund focused on FinTech across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Pakistan.
The $50-million VentureSouq fund invests in early-stage FinTech and SaaS companies and focuses on key subsectors including payments infrastructure, alternative credit, digital banking, PropTech, InsurTech and personal financial management, working closely with innovative regional entrepreneurs that are disrupting financial services.
VentureSouq General Partner Suneel Gokhale said: "Prior to the Mena FinTech fund, we were early investors alongside some of the biggest global VCs in a number of FinTech companies, including high-profile ones such as Jeeves, Khatabook, Belvo, FamPay, Vouch, Point, Atomic and Fondeadora."
"In 2020 we started to reflect on what FinTech adoption in the region was going to look like and we dove right in. Based on what we have seen in other emerging markets that we have invested in, we believe it is still early days in terms of the FinTech ecosystem in the MENA region and we are really excited about the overall opportunity set," he stated.
VentureSouq MENA FinTech I is backed by regional powerhouses including Jada Fund of Funds program and Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC), Bahrain’s Al Waha Fund of Funds, UAE’s DisruptAD, ADQ’s venture platform, and Mubadala Investment Company, as well as multinational conglomerates such as OFC, the Middle East investment arm of The Olayan Group.
General Partner Maan Eshgi said: "As the first vertical venture fund in Mena, it was critical to assemble the right LP base. We needed partners that would both understand where the region currently sits on the evolutionary curve, but also that could help our portfolio companies navigate the challenging regulatory and funding terrain in the region."
" For us to get the outcomes we need, our portfolio companies need to access not just a single market, but the entire region. We believe we have the right stakeholders to help make access to that broader market a reality," he added.
Established in 2016, VentureSouq has operations in the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia and has invested in over 200 companies worldwide.
Apart from Gokhale and Eshgi, its other partners are Sonia Gokhale, Tammer Qaddumi and Sonia Weymuller who take an active value-add approach to investing.
