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Today, the MENA region is witnessing a growth in the number of new funding institutions and is currently home to over 100 active institutional investors. At ArabNet, we decided to map out and profile the funding institutions in 9 of MENA’s key markets. You can find our map here, and our fourth profile on 500 Startups below. 

Founded in 2010, 500 Startups is a global early-stage VC fund and startup accelerator that invests in early-stage startups. Since inception, 500 Startups has invested in more than 2000 companies and 3000 founders in over 60 countries.

While 500 Startups has been investing in the MENA region since 2011; in early 2017, the VC closed a new $15M MENA-focused fund known as ‘500 Falcons’ (with a target of $30M) that exclusively targets early-stage startups in MENA, MENA diaspora founders, and non-MENA founders targeting MENA. With the fund, the 500 group plan to invest in approximately 100-150 companies with about half of the fund, and reserve the other half for follow-on investment in the top 20% of companies.

For more information on 500 Startups and 500 Falcons, check out their website, and our fact sheet below:

FACT SHEET (500 Falcons)

Launched: 2017

Team:
Executives:
Christine Tsai (CEO)
Aman Verjee (COO)
Paul Yoo (CFO)

500 Falcons:
Hasan Haider (Partner)
Sharif El Badawi (Partner)
Tamsin Ashworth Reeves (Corporate Counsel)
Ahmed Aljabreen (Investment Manager)

Based: GCC

Target Market: MENA

Investment Tickets: $25K - $250K (first checks)

Investment Stage: Early-stage

Focus Sectors:
Consumer Commerce, Family Tech & Education, Design, SMB Productivity & Cloud Services, International/Emerging Markets, Foodtech & Digital Healthcare, Mobile & Tablet, Payments and Financial Services, Online Video, Bitcoin, Adtech, and IOT/Drones/Hardware.

Startups Funded/Acquired (in MENA):
Fetchr, Edfa3ly, Instabeat, ReserveOut, Mashvisor, Jamalon, Bridg and more