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- Zest Your Equity | 12-June-2024
Zest Your Equity | 12-June-2024
Private equity's J curve, GCC's attraction to entrepreneurs, and more.
Ghalia from Zest
June 12, 2024
This week’s agenda 📜
What’s new 🕐
Startup fundraising 💰
What we’re reading 📖
Our blog ✍️
Let’s dive in 👇
What’s New? 🕐
Private market investing and the “J curve.”
In private markets, investors typically see net cash outlays before realizing any appreciation from their investments.
This is because private equity and venture capital funds begin by calling capital from investors and investing this capital into target companies.
This initial process may take several years, in which investors are paying fees and expenses but realizing little to no appreciation in their investments.
Investments take time to mature typically before any capital is returned to investors. This is called the “harvest” period, which reflects an upward direction of the J curve and capital being returned to investors.
Investors in private markets should understand the J curve trajectory in order to set realistic expectations for the timeline and return profile of their private market investments.
Source: Moonfare
Startup Fundraising 💰
🇦🇪 UAE-based contech Tenderd has closed a $30 million Series A funding round, led by A.P. Moller Holding, along with new investors, including Quadri Ventures and Saurya Prakash, and existing investors, including Wa’ed Ventures, Nakhla Ventures, SOMA Capital, and Liquid 2 Ventures.
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia-based agritech iyris has closed a $16 million Series A funding round, led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF) and supported by current and new institutional investors, including Global Ventures, Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF), Kanoo Ventures, Globivest, and Bonaventure Capital.
🇦🇪 UAE-based proptech Stake has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round, led by MEVP Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), along with Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures, Mubadala and Republic.
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia-based fintech Simplified Financial Solutions Company (SiFi) has closed a $10 million Seed round.
🇲🇦 Morocco-based agritech YoLa Fresh has secured a $7 million pre-Series A funding round, led by Al Mada Ventures with participation from Algebra Ventures, E3 Capital, Janngo Capital, and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development Bank.
🇪🇬 The Cairo-based fintech Sahl has raised $6 million in Series A and seed funding rounds, led by Ayady for Investment and Development, joining existing investors Egypt Pay, Delta Electronic Systems, and E-Finance.
🇬🇧🇦🇪 Elevate, a London and Dubai-based fintech, has raised $5 million in a pre-series A investment round, according to the company's statement, which does not name the investors.
🇦🇪 UAE-based AI startup qeen.ai has secured a $2.2 million pre-Seed funding round, led by Wamda Capital, with participation from international and regional investors, including 10x Founders, Aditum and Dara Holdings, along with Jabbar Group, Phaze Ventures and Eureka 460.
🇦🇪 UAE-based martech startup Growdash has raised $1.8 million in a Seed round, led by Oryx Fund and Oraseya Capital
What We’re Reading 📖
Our Blog ✍️
Have you ever wondered what makes a private market investor say “yes” to a company?
It’s widely known that investors have different expectations for a Series A startup than they do for a growth-stage, or late-stage company. But what are these criteria that investors look for?
In our latest blog, we dissect what types of firms invest at the different stages of a private company’s journey, what criteria investors look for, and how the broader market can impact startup fundraising.
You can read our latest blog here!
How did we do? |