Rua Growth Fund

Nama Ventures is a pre-seed venture capital fund focused on fueling innovation in the MENA region, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Nama Ventures prides itself on being an investment fund committed to nurturing ideas that guide founders to create exceptional companies. If you are an entrepreneur who is ready to take the entrepreneurial plunge, it would be our privilege to join you on the start of your journey. Nama Ventures is built upon the fundamental idea of enabling entrepreneurs to succeed. And as founders of Nama, we are thrilled to finally have the platform to implement this idea. Our hope is that entrepreneurs willing to partner with us will see and feel our value-add approach to investing. Let’s take a ride down this road together.

We’re here to back individuals who dare to be different and in innovation that pushes the boundaries of possibilities. Our story from seed to treeThe seed: In 2011, Aly El Shalakany and Hossam Allam founded the Cairo Angels, which was Egypt and Africa’s first angel investment network. The idea was simple - to bring together a group of mission driven investors to invest and support founders to build technology businesses right here in our region in order to have a positive impact on our societies The sprout: It was tough going at first and there were plenty of naysayers. There were too few of us trying to do too much. The seedling: Once you have a few wins under your belt, belief can be quite infectious. As the number of our investments grew, so did the number of founders building exciting new startups, which brought more and more investors to our community. Before we knew it, the perception of startups and investing in startups was changing all around us and a virtuous cycle began to take hold. The sapling: As we started making returns for our investors, we started to think to ourselves - what more can we be doing? How can we have more impact? Programs. Check. Partnerships. Check. Events. Check. Launch of our first fund. Check. The tree: Today, we look back at the last decade and think to ourselves - that was fun, where did the time go? But ten years is nothing in the life of a tree; we’re just getting started. We have places to go and people to see. We are the Acasia tree. Our PhilosophyFirst believers: We love to be the first folks outside of friends and family (and fools!) to back exceptional founders to build enduring companies. Founder-focused: The founders are at the heart of everything we do. We want to be partners for life in this exciting journey, through thick and thin, come what may. We’re in it for the long haul. Collaboration: It takes a village to raise a child. We’re happy to pay it forward, because we’re all in this together. That’s what ecosystem building is all about. Impact-driven: We believe that, given the possibility, we have the talent to build enduring technology firms right here in our part of the world. For Us By Us: We believe that, given the possibility, we have the talent to build enduring technology firms right here in our part of the world. Enabling People We empower people with big ideas to go the distance, and aspire to understand the humans behind the ideas. Sustaining Growth We commit to long-term, hands-on support in all aspects of a startup to facilitate personal and business development. Fueling Innovation We connect visionaries of the region by converting interest into investment.

Digital Mission Ventures (DMV) is building the SEA redemptive ecosystem by bringing together founders, funders, mentors, and partners for Kingdom impact at scale. Over the next 10 years, DM Ventures will journey with 100 early-stage tech founders to maximize their Kingdom impact.

TLV is 100% committed to partnering with the best Israeli startups and going the distance together. TLV provides significant capital resources to support the process of building category-defining companies. We strive to be your true partners, through thick and thin, for whatever it takes to help your business thrive. At what stage/s do you typically invest? We invest in early-stage companies. We’ve invested in teams with little more than an idea as well as companies with initial traction. In more traditional VC terminology, we invest in seed and A rounds. As a fund we’re focused on helping companies reach product market fit, and love the work that goes into getting there. What is your average check size? Our typical investment ranges between $2-$8M. Since our portfolio is concentrated, we reserve up to $15M to invest over each company’s lifetime and have various tools to support late-stage rounds. What is it like to work with TLVP? First and foremost, our founders are best positioned to answer this question. So feel free to reach out to any of our incredible founders and ask them! More specifically, we believe that entrepreneurs are the ones who run their businesses, not us. They are immersed in their markets 24/7 and we rely on them to make good decisions. That said, we have LOTS of experience when it comes to early-stage companies, and extensive resources. So in addition to financial support, we provide good advice, networking assistance, and wisdom born of experience. Our portfolio companies value our honest perspective and choose to consult with us often. They count on us to challenge them to be the best they can be but never attempt to step into a management role. Who are your LPs? Our LP base primarily comprises US-based institutional investors. Among them are some of the best-performing institutional investors worldwide and we are proud to have them as our partners. What does a typical due diligence process with TLVP entail? First and foremost, we strive to be respectful of entrepreneurs’ time as we know it’s their most precious resource. In that vein, our diligence processes are quick, yet thorough. Our focus surrounds getting to know the team and idea, and the goal of the process is to develop joint conviction with the founders that our involvement in each company will serve as a force multiplier for the business going forward. Do you focus on specific sectors? Each investment team member has their own areas of expertise, and that information can be found on the team page. That said, we love investing in breakthrough technologies and trends that are not yet mainstream. At the end of the day, we strive to invest in companies that we are passionate about, which is why you might see certain areas of concentrations within our portfolio. Please feel free to view our “companies” page to view our current portfolio and their sectors of operation. Do you lead rounds? Yes. We are high conviction investors who rely on our own judgment for investment decisions. As such, we exclusively lead or co-lead rounds Do you participate in follow on rounds? Yes. We reserve up to $15m of capital for each portfolio company in order to participate and even lead follow on rounds. Additionally, our Opportunity Fund is a separate investment vehicle dedicated solely to doubling and tripling down in existing portfolio companies that have reached the growth stage. What’s the best way to contact TLVP? The best way to contact the fund is to reach out directly to the individual you feel is most relevant for your ask. We are a boutique firm, so all of our emails are simply: firstname@tlv.partners. We look forward to hearing from you! Do you invest solely in Israeli companies? Our mandate is simple: help the best Israeli entrepreneurs succeed. As such, we require at least one member of the founding team to be Israeli. There is no geographic restriction however, and our portfolio already consists of many companies based completely out of Israel.

By co-investing Mozaic Investors is increasing the chances for each stakeholder to gain from being part of the syndicate. Investors gain by diminishing the high risk related with investing in new ventures and by increasing their portfolio diversity by being exposed to high reward opportunities. Startups gain from the opportunity to raise money in underserved markets where venture capital is limited and in very early stages of the company. They also gain from the vast network of experts and successful entrepreneurs that are part of the syndicate thus increasing the potential on the investment with the smart money. Mozaic is a response to a couple of important problems that the startup ecosystem in Moldova and in the region is facing. The Investors Perspective. Lack of startup investing knowledge: Investors, especially in Eastern Europe, are not used to invest high-risk capital with the awareness that they can lose everything invested and the understanding that they have to keep the founders motivated enough because they are the ones developing the products thus investors should take only a small share of equity. High-risk investing alone: Not having a validation process for the startups usually leads to risky bets that investors take. The limited deals they are exposed to, contribute to decisions when they chose only from what they can evaluate. Not knowing other investors that can share the risk with them decrease the performance of their investments, thus not incentivizing the investors to keep investing. Lack of legal framework: The high cost of legal work regarding an investment makes investors to restraining investing in startups. Unclear rules, unprivileged legislation for investors are not something that an investor can change alone. There should be a common action and suggestions made to the legislative body. Lack of startups deal flow: Diversifying the portfolio require an increasing number of investible startups to choose from. An individual investor has no time and means to know all the startups there are in the ecosystem that are looking for investment thus exposing himself only to the direct approaches. The Startups Perspective. Lack of venture capital: By venture capital we are referring to alternative financing when startups are raising capital from private investors where no other financial institution are ready to finance the initial ideas and startups. Traditional financial institutions usually require more financial data, guarants or other indicators that a newly formed entity simply do not have. Thus founders are unable to support the developing teams and launch the products. A venture capital is not a loan and investors are aware that they can lose it. Also the founders are not tied to reimburse it the in case of failure, thus incentivising more founders to work on more ambition and rewarding projects not putting themself and their families in debt. Founders not owning the company: By investing the most of the money or all the money in the startup traditionally is expected the investor to have the majority of the social capital and voting rights on the matters regarding the activity of the company. This fact is not helping the founder to feel that he is in charge of the company thus he is losing motivation and is not engaged enough to achieve the company’s goal. Lack of smart capital: By accessing the capital from investors, founders also gain the access to investors that are experienced entrepreneurs and connected people that can advice or introduce the founders to potential clients. Ethical money: By promoting the highest standards of ethics throughout the investment cycle, the investors must act with integrity and respect while dealing fairly and objectively with the founders. The ambition is to help early stage companies become industry-defining and sustainable businesses. The Ecosystem Perspective. Not fully functional ecosystem: By covering to a good degree the other components of the startup ecosystem like Infrastructure (coworking, prototyping facilities) and Knowledge (know-how, conferences, events) there is a lack in continuity and sinergy in startup creation process. Not having the Capital and Legal components of the startup ecosystem makes the other components unproductive. Startups looking to other countries or even moving to pursue their goals. High levels of uncertainty: Startup world is known by having a high dose of uncertainty, but by adding to this the fact that founders do not know how they will finance their startups or the next steps in scaling, they have anxieties that keep them from starting in the first place.