Nama Ventures

Last updated
Nama Ventures
Company typePrivate
Industry Venture vapital
Founded2019
FounderMohammed Alzubi [1]
Headquarters Riyadh, Saudi Arabia [2]
Area served
 MENA
ProductsVenture capital funding
Website www.namaventures.com

Nama Ventures is a Saudi-based venture capital fund which focuses on investing in early-stage technology startups within the MENA region. [1]

Contents

History

Nama Ventures was founded in 2019 by its managing partner Mohammed Alzubi and participated in the "Invest in Saudi" delegation at the Web Summit the same year. [3] [4] The fund was started to address the funding gap for early-stage technology startups in the MENA region. [5] Alzubi has a background in technology investments, like working at Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority and co-founding TechWadi, a nonprofit organization that connects Arab-American tech entrepreneurs with resources and networks in Silicon Valley, California. [3] [6]

Since its inception, Nama Ventures has invested in over 45 companies across sectors such as fintech, proptech, entertainment tech, and legal tech. [7] The fund has made notable investments, including Salla, [8] Tamara, [9] Calo, [10] Rize, [11] BrevDev, [12] and many others. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] BrevDev, which Nama Ventures backed in June 2022, was later acquired by Nvidia. [18] [19] [20]

The fund also backed Nigeria's Y Combinator's startup, Termii. [21]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Saudi-focused VC Nama Ventures to invest in tech start-ups in kingdom, MENA region - Arabian Business: Latest News on the Middle East, Real Estate, Finance, and More". Arabian Business . 25 April 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  2. ↑ "Arzish represents 'Promise of Pakistan' at world's largest tech event". Daily Times . 12 February 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  3. 1 2 Pupic, Tamara (17 October 2022). "Nama Ventures Founder And Managing Partner Mohammed Alzubi Is Betting On The MENA Region And Its Entrepreneurs". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  4. ↑ "Nama Ventures participates in Web Summit 2019". Argaam . 6 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  5. ↑ El-Shaeri, Nour (26 April 2024). "Venture investments spark renaissance of Saudi innovation". Arab News PK . Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  6. ↑ "Video-recruitment platform JobPixel raises undisclosed Seed funding from Nama Ventures". Wamda. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  7. ↑ "Nama Ventures launches $27 million fund to invest in Mena startups". Wamda. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  8. ↑ "Saudi delegation eyes joint IT ventures". The Express Tribune . 6 January 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  9. ↑ Paracha, Zubair Naeem (20 January 2021). "Saudi fintech Tamara raises $6 million in country's largest seed round for its buy now pay later platform". MENAbytes. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  10. ↑ "Calo raises $13.5 million Seed round". Wamda. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  11. ↑ "Rize raises $2.9 million in seed round". My Startup World. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  12. ↑ "Nama Ventures invests in US-based startup BrevDev". Wamda. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  13. ↑ "Egyptian handicraft e-commerce startup Muqbis raises funding". Disrupt Africa. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  14. ↑ "Nama Ventures invests in Nigerian startups, Messenger and Termii". Wamda. 13 June 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  15. ↑ "Saudi-based Nama Ventures leads a seed funding round for Bahraini startup Faceki". Arab News . 15 August 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  16. ↑ "ShipBlu joins Y Combinator summer batch, secures funding from Nama Ventures". Khaleej Times . Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  17. ↑ El-Shaeri, Nour (23 February 2024). "Regional startups raise funding rounds amid activity flurry". Arab News. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  18. ↑ Martin, Dylan (17 July 2024). "Nvidia Expands AI Cloud Capabilities With Fourth Acquisition This Year". CRN . Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  19. ↑ "NVIDIA Acquires AI Platform Brev.dev from Nama Ventures". MSN . 5 August 2024. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  20. ↑ "Nvidia Acquires AI Platform Brev.dev From Saudi-Based VC Nama Ventures". CairoScene. 6 August 2024. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  21. ↑ Kene-Okafor, Tage (19 March 2021). "Nigeria's Termii raises $1.4M seed led by Future Africa and Kepple Africa Ventures". TechCrunch. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
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