BECO Capital's new $100M fund to boost the tech sector
Following the success of BECO Capital’s first fund to invest in startups, it has now closed its second fund, raising $100 million. The initial target was set at $80 million.
Investors include RIMCO Investment, International Financial Corporation (IFC) that is a member of the World Bank Group, Al Waha Venture Capital Fund of Funds out of Bahrain, Warba Bank, as well as family offices such as Watar Partners and KAAF Investments.
BECO Capital has seen four exits till date, which included Careem and Voicea. They primarily target seed and Series A funding rounds for founding and engineering teams based in MENA.
Their plan with the second fund is to fund early stage startups as well, with providing follow-on funding to those performing well.
“There have been substantial leaps in the technology and innovation landscape in MENA. Companies like SWVL, Wahed and Kitopi, which we have backed, are now exporting business model innovation from MENA to the rest of the world.”Dany Farha, Co-founder and Managing Partner of BECO Capital.
Farha added, “Success stories like Careem have produced dozens of highly skilled and experienced individuals, who have built businesses to global standards and at immense scale. We believe these individuals will go on to have the equivalent impact of PayPal in the region, building the next wave of great companies that will serve regional and global markets,” said Dany Farha, Co-founder and Managing Partner of BECO Capital.
Talking about limitations and challenges entrepreneurs face, Sufyan Al-Issa, IFC’s Regional Head of Operations, said, “Although the entrepreneurship ecosystem is witnessing major growth, startups still face the same challenges. From lack of access to finance, to little or no mentoring, entrepreneurs are still struggling to jump-start their businesses. Venture funds like BECO are not only essential but they are key to giving entrepreneurs the right tools and expertise, in turn creating jobs and boosting overall economic growth.”
Looking at the growing tech sector in the region and the some of the largest exits coming out of the UAE, investors’ interest has been steadily increasing. The early stage startup strategy of BECO Capital’s second fund will see more younger startups get an opportunity to raise funds to scale in the region.
