Startups in East and Northern Africa now have a new fund to pitch to. Called Nuwa Capital, the fund is targeting $100 million in investment and is looking to choose direct-to-consumer (D2C), fintech, mobility, logistics, and enterprise startups based in North and East Africa over others. Founded by Dubai-based Wamda Capital’s former Managing Partner Khaled Talhouni who is leaving the firm after spending six years, the fund is targeted at startups in Middle East, North Africa, East Africa, Turkey, and Pakistan.
“We will deliver on value creation through providing access to our portfolio to a network of the region’s most accomplished founders that will help support all our entrepreneurs,” said the managing partner of Nuwa, adding that they have already signed up names like Hosam Arab, Samih Toukan, Husam Khoury, Nour Al Hasan, to help their future portfolio companies.
Here Is All You Need To Know
- The launch of the fund which took place at Step Conference in Dubai saw Saudi conglomerate Al Faisaliah Group join Nuwa Capital as a strategic partner and anchor investor.
- Nuwa hopes to have operating partners who are subject matter experts in their respective fields and will help the entrepreneurs that the fund invests in by providing support across technology, product, recruitment, legal, growth hacking, and corporate finance/fundraising.
- Accordingly, Nuwa Capital is encouraging both the founders who join its network to help its portfolio companies and the operating partners who are subject matter experts (apparently working part-time for Nuwa).
- Khaled did not share further details about this model but told MENA-focused magazine MENABytes that the concerned persons are incentivized through a uniquely structured upside sharing mechanism that reinforces the relations relationship between the founders, the operating partners, and the underlying portfolio companies.
- Nuwa Capital will also share the carried interest (the share of profit of the fund that normally goes to its general partners) they make from their investments with the founders of the startups they invest in. The carried interest is typically 20 percent of the profits with the rest of 80 percent taken by the limited partners (LPs) of the fund.
“We want to build lasting partnerships with founders and we believe that entrepreneurs are at the heart of our story. In recognizing that and in building lasting relationships with these founders, we will share our upside and carried interest with the founders of each company we invest in,” said Khaled.
“This is the first step in demonstrating our deep commitment to aligning with founders and building a differentiated entrepreneurial network that is collectively incentivized towards delivering value,” he added.
Reaching Out To Different Markets
- Al Faisaliah Group, the conglomerate that’s anchoring Nuwa Capital will help Nuwa’s portfolio companies with their entry (and growth) in Saudi, which Khaled pointed out is a key market in the Middle East and North Africa.
- Faisaliah has a presence all over the Kingdom through its companies and joint ventures that operate in different sectors including dairy, healthcare, consulting, petrochemicals, food, and beverage, petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals.
“We believe there is an opportunity to help scale companies from each of these markets into each other and we will actively look to invest in companies that we can help support in scaling across not the GCC and MENA but also across Turkey, Pakistan and East Africa,” said Khaled.
Which Startups Would Be Invested In And How Would Startups Apply To The Fund
- Although Nuwa Capital hasn’t started investing yet, it is already speaking to different startups in the region and expects to close a few investments in the next few weeks.
- Nuwa did not share the details about how much it has already raised but said that they have a warehousing facility that will allow them to start investing immediately.
- The fund will invest in seed to Series B startups and is looking for founders that share its passion for “upending the status quo and redefining the industries and sectors that they are operating in.”
“It is extremely healthy both qualitatively and quantitatively. We feel uniquely blessed to form this investment platform right as the markets we operate in are starting to mature, ”Khaled said.
- During his time with Wamda, Khaled led and managed investments different investments on behalf of the firm including Careem, Twiga Foods, Insider, and Mumzworld.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer.
He could be contacted at udohrapulu@gmail.com