1. Hayi (🇦🇪 UAE), a neighbourhood-focused social networking app has secured an undisclosed amount in a Seed round from Plus VC, with participation from other regional angel investors.

2. Glamera (🇸🇦 KSA), a SaaS platform that powers and supplies lifestyle service providers has raised $350k from Hope Ventures alongside Saudi investors Mr. Fahad AlRajhi, Chairman of Nabdh Investment, alongside angel investor Dr. Khalid Altawil, who is also a partner in Select Ventures Dubai.

🇦🇪 Say hello to COTU Ventures! They’re a Dubai-based early-stage VC firm that have just raised $54 million for its inaugural fund to support startups in the Middle East from pre-seed to seed stages.

• Founded in 2020 by Amir Farha, COTU Ventures completed its final close last year, supporting founders from inception to post-product launch.

• It invests $500,000 to $2 million and reserves capital for follow-on investments.

🎯 Target areas 

Over the last 2.5 years, COTU Ventures has invested in over 20 early-stage startups across the GCC, with a focus on the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan.

Founder and general partner Amir Farha revealed in an interview with TechCrunch that COTU Ventures is inclined slightly toward fintech and B2B software, but the firm is open to opportunities across other sectors.

• Noteworthy investments by the fund include UAE mortgage platform Huspy, and Egyptian fintech startup MoneyHash.

🌱 Doubling-down on early stage

According to Farha, COTU Ventures prioritises deep engagement with founders, valuing their background and journey over just financial support, aiming to build trust and provide comprehensive guidance and connections for startup growth beyond initial funding.

📖 Background

Amir Farha co-founded BECO Capital with his cousin, Dany Farha in 2012, and spearheaded its first fund ($50 million) and second fund ($100 million), which invested in companies like Careem, Property Finder, Kitopi, and Fresha, at their early stages.

As BECO Capital shifted its focus toward later-stage investments with larger funds, Farha decided to depart in 2020 and launch COTU Ventures.

• FYI, the acronym stands for Champions of the Underdog, just in case you were wondering!

🙌 The believers

LPs include Lunate, Mubadala, Dubai Future District Fund, Arab Bank, Bupa KSA, and GPs from VCs, including Foundry Group, Tribe Capital, Stride, and several family offices.

💸 Meet MoneyHash! An Egyptian fintech that provides a unified payment orchestration platform to simplify complex payment processes for MEA merchants.

And, they've just secured $4.5 million in seed funding!

• Launched in 2020 by Nader Abdelrazik and Mustafa Eid, MoneyHash offers a unified API, customisable checkouts, and advanced fraud and failure rate optimisation.

💰 Investor lowdown: The round was led by COTU Ventures and Sukna Ventures, and supported by RZM Investment, Dubai Future District Fund, VentureFriends, and GitHub co-founder Tom Preston-Werner, along with other backers.

🌐 Payment complications

When launching platforms, merchants typically start with a couple of payment processors. However, expanding necessitates integrating more providers, a process complicated and prolonged by technical and operational hurdles, often extending over weeks.

• The MEA's digital payment landscape is notably fragmented, with each country's unique challenges—different currencies, payment methods, and separate financial systems—adding to the complexity.

Although the pandemic increased digital payment usage in MEA, infrastructure still lags, evidenced by payment failure rates tripling the global average and fraud and cart abandonment exceeding other regions by over 20%.

• The result? Merchants end up regarding payments as more as a risk than a strategic opportunity.

⚙️ Break it down

Payment orchestration platforms, like MoneyHash, streamline payment processes for merchants through unified payment APIs.

Merchants integrate their systems with MoneyHash’s unified API, which then connects them to over 200 pre-integrated payment service providers and methods, from cards and wallets to BNPL and even crypto, across more than 80 markets.

• What's the cost? MoneyHash charges $500 monthly plus a transaction fee of 0.4%.

🧲 What’s the draw for merchants?

Merchants see a simpler, faster integration process, leading to a potential 10-20% increase in revenue and a 90% reduction in development costs.

• Since its beta launch in 2022, MoneyHash has not only tripled its revenue but also grown its processing volume by 30-fold. They have a customer base of 50 active paying customers, with over 100 potential clients in the assessment stage. 

🔮 Flashforward

The fresh funding will be used to expand their business team and growth capabilities while maintaining technological progress.

🇶🇦 The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is launching a VC fund of funds with over $1 billion to invest in global and regional VC funds, announced at the Web Summit in Doha. This move aims to enhance QIA's tech investment portfolio, previously including a $500 million stake in Databricks, and to build Qatar's VC and startup ecosystem in alignment with its National Development Strategy.

• Focused on sectors like fintech, edtech, and healthtech, the fund seeks to attract leading VC funds and entrepreneurs to the GCC. While primarily investing through other VC funds, it also allows for direct investments, making it one of the largest funds of its kind in the region, aiming for sustainable returns.

🇦🇪 Tabby has announced the launch of Tabby+, a $13/month subscription service in the UAE, enabling users to pay for purchases in four installments anywhere Visa is accepted.

• It offers 1% cashback, 24/7 support, and utilizes the Tabby Card for payments through digital wallets. The service, following Tabby’s $200 million Series D, is for purchases outside Tabby’s partner network.

🇸🇦 Saudi investment firm CoreVision has acquired VeFund, a MENA-focused investment management platform founded in 2023 by Mohamed Gaber and Ahmed Magdy.

• VeFund offers startups tools like AI Survivability Index and portfolio management solutions, aiming to connect them with investors.

• This move bolsters CoreVision's expansion into the startup ecosystem with AI-driven offerings.

🇦🇪 Last weekend, Violet Ventures, in collaboration with START Global and Startup Grind, hosted the Road to START Summit Abu Dhabi at StartAD.

FWDstart had the pleasure of attending, so a massive shout-out to Guglielmo Fonda and the Violet Ventures team for a really enjoyable event!

• Nine startups pitched their ideas, with Pupilar, a UAE youth hiring platform, winning the opportunity to attend the START Summit in Switzerland and present in front of an audience of over 6,000 people in March.

• Eyes of the world. Qatar's tech sector takes centre stage at Web Summit 2024

• Up next. Qatar’s push to becoming an AI tech hub shines through at the Web Summit

• Crash. The Apple Car that never was: A timeline

• Public payday. Reddit Files to Go Public, Reveals That It Paid CEO $193 Million Last Year

👋 Message from the team

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