Saudi based Enhance Ventures, with offices in UAE and Saudi Arabia has launched a $30 million Builders Fund, which will invest in fintech and ecommerce projects in the Middle East.
Alper Celen, partner at Enhance Ventures stated on LinkedIn, “We are launching our $30 million pure studio fund at Enhance Ventures. This fund will allow us to scale our studio to test and validate countless venture ideas and build at least 12 ventures from scratch with the goal of creating 5,000+ high-tech jobs, train 50 amazing co-founders, and achieve five major exits.”
He adds, “We aim to contribute to the nine Middle Eastern economies where we operate by proactively building ventures with the higher chance of success that comes with the shared resources of a studio.”
Enhance Ventures plans to be the institutional co-founder of at least five major exits in the region in the next five to 10 years. “As a venture studio, we support founders materially in the early stages of venture development, when they need help the most. This dramatically increases the success rate for start-ups, and makes entrepreneurship an economic engine for our region,” said Mohammad AlHokail, Partner in Enhance Ventures. “As a studio, we plan to expedite ecosystem development and increase activity between this ecosystem, starting with Dubai and Riyadh, and other, more developed ecosystems.”
Enhance Ventures was launched in 2016 in KSA and currently has an office in UAE as well as a technology centre in Istanbul, and satellite offices in Cairo, Amman and Beirut.
The new fund will invest exclusively in the studio’s upcoming ventures, many of which will focus on gaps in the FinTech space. “Trends such as web3, open banking, the move to a cashless society, the need for frictionless consumer and SME finance, and the growth of B2B commerce have created new opportunities in the MENAPT region,” said Ritesh Tilani, Partner in Enhance Ventures.
“Paired with Enhance’s venture building playbook, its proprietary collection of venture building tools, and access to top talent, we believe Enhance is uniquely positioned to continue its success.”
Enhance’s first venture Joi Gifts is now the region’s largest online gifting marketplace. It was successfully spun off from the studio 10 months ago when it raised its Series A funding from investors such as Knuru Capital, MENA Moonshots, Wa’ed Ventures (the venture investments arm of Saudi Aramco) and Panthera Capital (the investment arm of Fujairah Holding), among others. The business has tripled in revenue since then and is currently raising its Series B funding round.
Other portfolio companies include Right Farm, a B2B agriculture technology firm which raised its seed round of $2.8 million earlier this year. Clevr is a consumer-facing payment and rewards platform that provides SMEs with sales and marketing tools. Blue Terra is a conscious-commerce marketplace that delivers eco-friendly and organic products. Both Clevr and Blue Terra have gained significant traction and are in the process of spinning off from the studio and raising their own independent rounds of funding. Enhance’s portfolio currently stands at an IRR of 72 percent.
