Egypt-headquartered venture capital firm Sawari Ventures has closed its latest fund at EGP1.09bn ($69.6m) with commitments from limited partners including insurer Misr Insurance Group.
Sawari Ventures backs developers of information communication technology, cleantech and hardware as well as education, healthcare and financial technologies. The capital from the latest fund will be deployed solely in its home country.
Misr joined Kuwait Investment Authority’s Ekuity Holding vehicle and financial services firms National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire and Suez Canal Bank in the vehicle’s EGP440m second close.
European Investment Bank, CDC, Proparco, Dutch Good Growth Fund and Sango Capital had been among the LPs that supplied the earlier EGP650m. The news came shortly before another Egypt-based VC firm, Algebra Ventures, closed a corporate-backed fund.
Ahmed El Alfi, founder and chairman of Sawari Ventures, said: “Our aim is to create exceptional returns through investing in knowledge driven companies, which have the potential of bringing transformational changes to the Egyptian economy.
“The fund will support local companies with dedicated capital, in addition to quality expertise from our seasoned and specialised team, and the value add of our investors.”
