Nama Ventures, a Saudi Arabia-focused venture capital firm, plans to raise $26.7 million to beef up its investment fund, as the pandemic has created a spike in tech start-ups in the country.
The fund will be raised from a host of high net worth individuals, family offices, and institutional investors.
Nama Ventures is a backer of two unicorns: .The Saudi VC is set to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage start-ups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a focus on Saudi Arabia.
It has invested in over 16 early stage start-ups so far, including: e-grocery delivery service Basket; rent-a-car venture eZhire; online floral marketplace Floranow; GrocerApp; EduTech ventue Faheem; Termii, which helps businesses use digital messaging channel; PalmHR, a fully automated HRMS; and Wafeer, a personal finance management app that tracks customers’ expenses instantly.
Saudi startups saw a 137.5 percent increase in Q1 of 2021 on the Q4 2020 which saw a fundraising total of $32 million. The Kingdom’s ecosystem witnessed 28 deals worth $76 million in the last quarter.
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