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Fresh off closing a $10 million fund earlier this year for Latin American startups<\/a>, 500 Startups has pulled together capital\u00a0for a new $15 million fund that will exclusively target startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).<\/p>\n Despite just\u00a0closing today, 500 Startups has already made 39 investments in MENA\u00a0out of other funds, so the group does have experience deploying capital in the region.\u00a0The\u00a0Oman Investment Fund and the\u00a0Qatar Science and Technology Park are serving as anchors for the new fund. The\u00a0Oman Investment Fund has previously invested capital into 500 Startups\u2019 main fund, but the\u00a0Qatar Science and Technology Park is\u00a0new.<\/p>\n Hasan Haider, the managing director of 500\u2019s MENA fund<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hasan Haider, the managing director of the MENA fund, has a massive task ahead of him. The Middle East alone encompasses a land area nearly the size of the United States and as such the role will involve a lot of traveling.\u00a0Haider is based in\u00a0Bahrain but will be making regular trips to cities that are hotbeds for business activity like\u00a0Cairo,\u00a0Riyadh, Dubai, and Doha, where 500\u2019s Series A program is located.<\/p>\n Initially\u00a0Haider will be joined by\u00a0Sharif ElBadawi, a former Googler and a\u00a0current leader of\u00a0TechWadi, an\u00a0association of tech-focused Arabs in Silicon Valley.\u00a0To augment efforts and maximize the reach of the small team, the two are advising the\u00a0Wadi Accelerator\u00a0in Oman and assisting them with community events.<\/p>\n 500 is calling this a first closing which means it is possible that the size of the fund could increase in the future. Ideally this would mean increasing the size of the team to between seven and nine people to support the fund\u2019s efforts. Rather than wait it out, 500 has decided to get on the ground sooner rather than later to take advantage of the growing exit activity in MENA.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Amazon acquisition of souq<\/a> was really a\u00a0watershed moment for the region,\u201d Dave McClure, Founding Partner of 500 Startups, explained to me in an interview.<\/p>\n The implication is that there is serious regional interest in venture capital investment. Softbank grabbed headlines last year<\/a> when news broke that the company was planning a $100 billion investment fund that would have substantial backing from Middle Eastern investors. The Saudi Arabian\u00a0Public Investment Fund\u2019s $3.5 billion investment in Uber<\/a> also comes to mind as indicative of the trend.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now\u00a0government supported programs are incentivizing people to set up VC funds,\u201d notes\u00a0Haider. \u201cM&A interest\u00a0is coming from Europe and the far east.\u201d<\/p>\n Government sponsored programs heavily incentivize\u00a0country specific investments, but\u00a0Haider told me in an interview that he thinks its wrong to look at the region as siloed off countries. Instead, the idea is to grow the region as an ecosystem, working to increase the number of acquisitions and ultimately convincing more people to take the risk of starting a startup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/05\/unnamed1.jpg?w=382&h=383\")
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Fresh off closing a $10 million fund earlier this year for Latin American startups, 500 Startups has pulled together capital\u00a0for a new $15 million fund that will exclusively target startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Despite just\u00a0closing today, 500 Startups has already made 39 investments in MENA\u00a0out of other funds, so the group does have experience deploying capital in… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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