Seed

Pre-Seed

Series A

Series B

Series C

Series D

Debt Financing

Others

Africa

Levant

Europe

Rest of World

Kuwait

Hasan Zainal

Adeel Shahid

Mohanad Elhartany

If you're ready to take your business to the next level with Arzan Venture Capital, we want to hear your pitch.

Investment in Startup

Arzan Venture Capital

E-Commerce

Software

Arzan Venture Capital is an early-stage VC firm specializing in startups with a MENA focus with a portfolio of over 30 startups, fostering partnerships with the region's emerging entrepreneurs.

Dubai

Series F

Careem

Logistics & Storage

Transportation

Delivery

Ride Sharing

Providing a range of daily services, Careem is a Dubai-based ride-hailing and super app company that aims to simplify people's daily lives in over 100 cities across 13 countries.

Riyadh

Pre-IPO

TruKKer

Logistics

Freight Service

Supply Chain Management

TruKKer is a technology-enabled truck aggregator that operates multiple truck types for multiple end markets.

Swvl

Internet

Swvl is a tech-enabled mobility platform that provides safe, reliable, and convenient mass transit solutions in 115 cities worldwide, including Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.

Nairobi

Wasoko

Consumer Goods

Zid زد

eRetail enablement company that enables any retailer or merchant to move from traditional retail to modern retail.

Retailo Technologies

Retail

Cairo

MoneyFellows

Fintech

MoneyFellows is a collaborative group lending and savings platform. MoneyFellows gives individuals access to interest free credit and better saving achievements, all fully powered by just their social network.

Lucky One

Apps

Lucky One is an app for credit products, offers and cashback rewards.

Nearpay

Nearpay is a FinTech company providing payment acceptance solutions to banks, payment providers and startups.

iKcon

Food and Beverage

iKcon, UAE-based tech-enabled cloud kitchen operator that procures, cooks, and delivers food on behalf of restaurants and brand owners, was acquired by REEF in 2021.

Mejuri

Fashion

Amman

Tamatem

Gaming

Tamatem is a mobile games publisher that focuses on providing the users with culturally relevant games.

Jamalon

The Luxury Closet

Merit Incentives

Technology

Merit Incentives is a global engagement technology and solutions company that helps businesses boost customer and employee engagement through its innovative enterprise solutions.

POSRocket

Intelligent Systems

Traditional cash registers are a thing of the past. POSRocket modernizes this near-obsolete system by providing business owners with an intuitive, user-friendly, cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) platform.

ELEVATUS

AI/IoT

Elevatus is a leading tech company that offers an award-winning hiring platform and futuristic video interviewing software

MUNCH:ON

Information Technology

Food Delivery

Delivery Services

one of the region’s fastest-growing food delivery apps, providing home and office addresses with a quick and convenient way of ordering a variety of meals at a fraction of the cost.

Hala

Financial Services

Hala is a prominent fintech company that seeks to transform financial services and develop the future bank for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Haseel

Marketplace

Haseel is a fresh fruits and vegetables ecommerce platform

Klaim

Finance

Insurance

Insurance Technology

SaaS

Klaim is an InsureTech platform offering a SaaS medical claim management and financing platform all in one.

Crowd Analyzer

Analytics

Crowd Analyzer offers tools for brands and agencies monitor, analyze, and activate digital crowds.

Repzo

Repzo Inc. is a salesforce automation company based in Jordan with more than 200 clients and distributors in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, Qatar, Oman, and many other countries across the MENA region.

FlexxPay

Digital & ICT

Information Systems

FlexxPay is an online platform for employers who can access their earned salaries & commissions instantly, before the regular payday.

Fatura

Fatura connects the supplier with the retailers through its mobile app, enabling them to order their inventory instantly.

Giza

Gameball

Gameball helps online businesses win back their customers, through instant gamification and rewards management.

Cartlow

Sustainable

UAE-based ‘re-commerce’ solutions provider with a focus on transforming the pre-owned industry sector and eliminating unsustainable practice

Subsbase

IT & Communication

The first subscription management platform that caters to the MENA's subscription-based businesses.

Qoyod

Support & Management Services

comprehensive online accounting software for small and medium businesses.

Khazenly

Wrappup

Bellgram

Paymennt

Payment

Crypto

Paymennt is a mobile-first payments platform allowing businesses to accept payments online, in person, or through payment links.

boxit.co

Deliveries

Boxit is a platform that connects people who need extra space to store their personal items with reputable logistics companies who has spare space to store them .

PointCheckout

PointCheckout develops an online payment platform intended for loyalty and reward points.

Manama

inagrab

Big Data

Mobile Apps

Inagrab is a company with a mission to bridge the gap between businesses and people by monetizing word of mouth using their core product called Dalooni. Dalooni is platform connects businesses with a sales force consisting of the everyday individual without technically paying them a salary, and helps the unemployed youth of the MENA Region getaccess to a source of income and enhance their business development capabilities gradually.

Taker

Restaurants

SaaS-based online ordering system for restaurants where it helps them set up their branded ordering website and apps instantly.

Abu Dhabi

Hulexo

Retail & Wholesale

Enterprise Software

Hulexo helps retailers streamline & scale their businesses using an AI-Powered ERP System.

FittiCoin

Manufacturing

Healthcare

Fitness

Wellness

FittiCoin aims to enhance peoples lifestyles through encouraging them to move, we did this by creating our app which is available in Google Play and the App Store. Our app will count your steps and convert those steps to coins, and with those coins users can redeem them with valuable free and discounted products!

Armada Delivery Solutions

IT Consulting

IT Services

Armada is a technology logistics company connecting supply to demand in the last mile logistics industry in Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. We offer a dynamic on-demand delivery marketplace and a Fleet Management System suite.

Bidvine

Carseer

Shieldfy

Security

Reportcard

Education

Citron

Lifestyle

Dalooni

Advertising Services

Onfleet

CoContest Inc.

Interior Design

As the parent company of GoPillar, the world's largest architecture marketplace, CoContents Inc. has helped customers to access a wide range of design projects from registered designers at a more affordable cost and with faster turnaround times.

Idinaidi

Real Estate

Cognitev

Content

Saudi-based Retail enablement company, Zid has successfully raised $50 million (~188 million SAR) in a Series B funding led by IMPACT46 with participation from new investors: Aramco venture capital arm (Waed Ventures) and Endeavour Catalyst. Previous investors: Global Ventures, Elm Company, Arzan and MSA also participated. 

This is the third round of investment Zid has received since the business was founded in 2017, and follows a Series A investment round of $7 million in March 2021. 

The proceeds will be used by Zid to expand into new markets in Saudi Arabia and in the region, conquer new retail verticals, plus digitise and automate more innovative solutions to modernise the retail sector.

Zid has continued its growth in both acquiring new merchants and in transactions. Milestones include doubling its revenues from subscriptions and transactions and a 50% increase in orders made via Zid’s merchants by over 7 million lifetime consumers. Zid’s merchant network now reaches over 7,500 stores across 19 different categories, from small to large merchants in the retail sector.

Zid started by enabling retailers to sell and grow their own online channels. Now, Zid is expanding into a new mission - “modernize the retail sector”. The company’s goal is to up game the retail sector by offering and enabling business owners and retailers with tools and products that will improve the efficiency of their operations and grow their bottom line. 

The company rolled out products and solutions to enable Zid retailers in shipping (ZidShip) and payment (ZidPay), achieving significant growth and adoption of their products. Zid's intention is to expand the offering of these products to cover: financing retailers and cross-border shipping. 

Commenting on Zid’s growth, Co-founder and CEO of Zid, Sultan AlAsmi, said: “We appreciate the continuous belief and trust that our investors have put into the company, the leadership, and the team. We are focused on being the regional optimum solution for each economy we operate in, having proved it in Saudi Arabia.”

Mazen AlDarrab, Zid’s Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer, added: “Zid and its team showed the ability in the past years to turn challenges into solutions that can enable retailers and partners to grow. We will be continuing in the same direction with the aim to modernize the retail sector in the region”

Abdulaziz AlOmran, the Managing Partner at IMPACT46, commented on the investment: “Zid is building a community by enabling merchants to master online presence with a full-fledged e-commerce infrastructure equipped with sophisticated features. The deep connection with merchants is what makes a difference in strengthening this community. Excited to lead the round and welcome Zid to IMPACT46’s family, we see amazing founders that balance each other while pushing the team forward to new frontiers."

Zid raises $50 million Series B round led by IMPACT46

Middle East-founded car-hailing app Careem has raised $60 million in Series C funding, led by The Abraaj Group.This round is The Abraaj Group’s first investment in Careem, and it now stands alongside other investors Arzan Venture Capital, Al Tayyar, STC Ventures, BECO Capital, Impulse (a subsidiary of Kuwait Investment Authority), Lumia Capital and Wamda Capital. Al Tayyar remains the largest institutional investor.

Car-hailing app Careem raises $60M Series C

I often get the chance to sit on the fundraising sessions during Wamda&rsquo;s&nbsp;Mix N&rsquo; Mentor&nbsp;events and hear entrepreneurs talk about their challenges when it comes to finding the right investors.

Even though&nbsp;we don&rsquo;t have a shortage of VCs, whether in the region or investing in it, one basic question entrepreneurs keep asking mentors during sessions is&nbsp;&lsquo;how do I find VCs?&rsquo;

Online research will help identify the main investing players, however Kuwait-based&nbsp;<a href="http://arzanvc.com/">Arzan VC</a>&nbsp;decided to meet entrepreneurs halfway.

&nbsp;

Coffee with a VC?

<img alt="Laith" src="http://wamda-prod.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/content/be7fd58a942c6ac.jpg" />

Laith Zraikat (image via Arzan VC)

As part of its new 2016 strategy to become more supportive, go global and become a leader, Arzan VC will be launching &lsquo;office hours&rsquo; services for entrepreneurs in the coming months allowing them to book a meeting with Arzan&rsquo;s team of experts.

A recent addition to this team was Laith Zraikat, who had previously cofounded review platform&nbsp;Jeeran&nbsp;before&nbsp;leaving for a new adventure.

Other team members include senior investment manager&nbsp;Ahmad Takatkah, who is also a mentor for many startups in the region, a member of Endeavor Global Investor Network and founder of the YouTube channel&nbsp;VC preneur;&nbsp;Anurag Agarwal, who is heading the investment cycle at Arzan VC; Arzan&rsquo;s managing partner&nbsp;Hasan Zainal, and others.

&ldquo;Each will have a set number of hours per week displayed on a public calendar,&rdquo; said Zraikat, who emphasized that the new service won&rsquo;t be for pitching or raising funds. &ldquo;We&#39;ll just be entrepreneurs. They shouldn&#39;t pitch to us, but ask us for help and advice.&rdquo;

The help is mutual.

&ldquo;In this region, the whole industry is new. When we offer help, we also ask for help to learn about new trends,&rdquo; said Takatkah. &ldquo;It&#39;s a casual gathering. I don&#39;t like the term office hours.&rdquo;

As part of their goal to become a global VC and invest in startups anywhere in the world, Arzan VC will also be eyeing startups abroad - a step the fund is already taking.

In a previous chat, Takatkah said that the VC strives to be sector and country agnostic, after they invested in Russian real estate portal Idinaidi.ru. Other investments include shopping search engine MENA Commerce, Tamatem, EcoSys, Jamalon and Careem. The fund invests in seed rounds, pre-series A and Series A.

Their latest undisclosed global seed co-investment is in Silicon Valley startup CoContest, a crowdsourcing platform for interior designers. 500 Startups was also an investor.

&ldquo;Their solution works online and can scale,&rdquo; commented Takatkah on their investment in CoContest. &ldquo;Their team is experienced and has almost all the components we look for in a startup.&rdquo;

<img alt="" src="http://wamda-prod.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/content/53e410047ce5112.png" />

A screenshot from CoContest website

To strengthen their foothold in global markets, they have added Lebanese-American&nbsp;Mohamad&nbsp;Charafeddine as an advisor.

He cofounded Jordan-based data solution provider TickerChart and works in product management at Samsung in Silicon Valley. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very well connected to the community in the Silicon Valley,&rdquo; Zraikat said. &ldquo;We plan to build our network there as well so he is going to be helping with that.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;

&lsquo;Open to leading&rsquo;

Arzan VC has been co-investing&nbsp;with other investors such as Wamda Capital, 500 Startups, Hatcher, Silicon Badia and Oasis500 since&nbsp;its inception 18 months ago. They hope to take a more prominent role in future investments.

&ldquo;We want to be open to leading,&rdquo; said Zraikat. &ldquo;In the past, it was co-investing. That was the focus. Now, we feel that we&rsquo;ve identified our strategy better. We will be leading and also be the only [investor]&nbsp;in a round.&rdquo;

Arzan VC invests in a Silicon Valley startup, prepares to launch office hours

Dubai: A Dubai-based startup specialising in lunchboxes has packed a &lsquo;seven-figure&rsquo; dollar investment from its pre-Series A funding round. Citron, founded by Sara Chemmaa in 2017, tapped Arzan Venture Capital for the funds.

&ldquo;As a &lsquo;non-tech&rsquo; company, the investment is even more meaningful as this sector is currently out of favour by investors,&rdquo; said Chemmaa. &ldquo;As a female-owned and run business, we are thrilled to be paving the way and thankful to Arzan VC for backing strong female founders who are underrepresented and overlooked despite demonstrating superior returns.&rdquo;

Since introducing leak-proof lunchboxes, she has expanded the product category to a bamboo range, another with a sustainability element, and one even for teens. It also secured a distributor tie up recently.

The funds raised will be used for further product &lsquo;innovation&rsquo;. Laith Zraikat, Partner at Arzan Venture Capital, said: &ldquo;Citron is catering to a huge market and the founder&rsquo;s plan to diversify her product lines and sell directly to consumers made us realize Citron&rsquo;s potential to grow and become a global company.&rdquo;

Dubai lunchbox brand owner Citron gets 'seven figure' funding

New Enterprise Associates, the 42-year-old venture capital firm, has invested in the $23 million Series B round for&nbsp;<a href="https://mejuri.com/" target="_blank">Mejuri</a>, a startup capturing millennial women&rsquo;s penchant for affordable and treat yo&rsquo; self type of jewelry rather than diamonds and precious stones for special occasions.

It&rsquo;s the latest instance of startups drawing investor interest with their direct-to-customer retail model. Based in Toronto and Buenos Aires, four-year-old Mejuri designs, makes and sells jewelry directly to women primarily online in addition to two offline showrooms, bypassing middle-person costs. Besides striving for reasonable prices, Mejuri also wants to upend an entrenched practice in its industry.

Traditional jewelry, the startup points out, targets men for gifting and makes higher markups acceptable. With its D2C play, Mejuri believes it&rsquo;s putting the purchasing decision back with women; indeed, it found 75 percent of its customers are buying for themselves. Its team of 120 employees, including an in-house crew of 25 people, is constantly on the watch for trends and consumer feedback, a strategy made possible by its online presence of more than 422,000 Instagram followers. Instead of releasing large batches of seasonal pieces, Mejuri adapts the so-called &ldquo;drop&rdquo; model that introduces only a small quantity of products each week, which allows it to timely translate customer sentiments into designs.

&ldquo;Mejuri&rsquo;s mission really hits home for me,&rdquo; said NEA partner Vanessa Larco in a statement. &ldquo;I noticed a shift in trends when none of my friends wanted to go to any of the traditional fine jewelry companies to purchase jewelry anymore, and I realized a lot of those big brands were in trouble.&rdquo;

Natalie Massenet, founder of Net-a-Porter and partner at Imaginary, another venture fund that participated in Mejuri&rsquo;s Series B, said the startup is set to &ldquo;disrupt&rdquo; the jewelry industry through supply chain standards that modern consumers demand, &ldquo;like sourcing from conflict-free and socially responsible diamond suppliers and maintaining affordable prices to serve a consumer who is buying for herself and her friends.&rdquo;

<img alt="Mejuri-Press-11" src="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Mejuri-Press-11.jpg?w=680" style="height:454px; width:680px" />

Photo source: Mejuri

Another enabling factor is the company&rsquo;s female-led team: 80 percent of the staff are women, headed by founder Noura Sakkijha, a third-generation jeweler and a former industrial engineer who scored the company&rsquo;s latest capital when she was seven months pregnant with two twins. It wasn&rsquo;t an easy route, but the fact that Sakkijha was visibly pregnant also paved her way for finding the right partners.

&ldquo;I was nervous about how people would perceive me,&rdquo; Sakkijha told TechCrunch. &ldquo;If you have an issue with a pregnant, female CEO&ndash;Mejuri is not for you. My kids will always be a priority and part of the story. Knowing this left me feeling more vulnerable&ndash;but also liberated. It&rsquo;s also introduced me to an amazing community; I&rsquo;ve met so many amazing female investors and founders whose humor and shared experiences have been a huge relief. Seeing other women model that you can have both&ndash;not perfectly, not effortlessly&ndash;was a relief that I didn&rsquo;t have to sacrifice my drive for motherhood.&rdquo;

The user-centric focus has brought customer loyalty to Mejuri. The startup claims that 30 percent of its monthly transactions come from returning shoppers, and 70,000 customers are on the waitlist for its products. It&rsquo;s accumulated a total of 20 million visitors to its website and released 1,500 designs since launch. Revenues have quadrupled year-over-year for the fourth consecutive year, and the company, one of TechCrunch&rsquo;s favorite picks from 500 Startups&rsquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/gallery/our-7-favorite-companies-from-the-500-startups-batch-15-demo-day/">Batch 15 Demo Day</a>&nbsp;three years ago, said it&rsquo;s on track to achieve the same level of traction in 2019.

The new proceeds bring Mejuri&rsquo;s total funds raised to more than $29 million to date. Others in the new funding round include follow-on backers Felix Capital, BDC Capital, Incite Ventures and Dash Ventures. The company plans to spend its latest financial injection on offline expansion, push beyond its biggest markets Canada and the United States as well as the 33 countries it ships to, and investment in branding and customer experience.

Mejuri raises $23M Series B to serve women buying jewelry for themselves

Arzan Venture Capital, the Kuwait-born VC firm that has been investing in the Middle Eastern &amp; North African startups since 2014 has raised $20 million in the first close of its second fund, it told&nbsp;MENAbytes&nbsp;today. They had hit the first close in August last year and have already invested in thirteen startups from it.

The VC firm that was one of the early investors in Careem is targeting to close the fund by August this year with $25 million, its founder &amp; Managing Partner Hasan Zainal said, speaking to&nbsp;MENAbytes.&nbsp;He also explained that they might increase the target to $30 million.

&ldquo;The limited partners (those who&rsquo;ve invested) of the second fund include two sovereign wealth funds, a couple of international wealth managers and Arzan Financial Group,&rdquo; said Hasan.

He did not share the names of the sovereign wealth funds that invested in Arzan VC II but one of them is Saudi Public Investment Fund&rsquo;s Jada as it lists Arzan as one of the funds it has invested in, on its website.

Arzan VC&rsquo;s first fund was anchored by Arzan Financial Group and was smaller in size. The most notable investments Arzan VC has made through it include Careem, Mejuri, Trukker, Jamalon, Lunchon, and Tamatem. But more importantly, Arzan VC also has some exits under its belt including Careem and Wrappup. It&nbsp;was an early investor in both companies.

Arzan VC that has recently expanded its on-the-ground presence to five countries in the Middle East &amp; North Africa will continue to invest in pre-seed to Series A startups in the region, &ldquo;We also tend to follow up with our winners even post Series A. Identifying startups at an early stage is our competitive edge hence we are sticking with this strategy,&rdquo; explained Hasan.

Exclusive: Arzan VC raises $20 million in first close of its second fund to invest in Middle Eastern startups

Kuwait&rsquo;s first venture capital fund&nbsp;<a href="http://www.arzanvc.com/">Arzan VC</a>&nbsp;is not keen on missing opportunities anywhere.

Since launching in 2013 it&rsquo;s invested in 15 startups worldwide, from Russian real-estate portal Idinaidi.ru and Kuwait storage startup Boxit, to Silicon Valley&rsquo;s logistics company Onfleet.

Yet Arzan had a humble&nbsp;beginning - its first startup went bankrupt.

The learning curve

Partner Hasan Zainal, who started the fund, was approached by Kuwait financial services company Arzan Financial Group in 2013 after selling his food and beverage startup Edge Food. They wanted him to launch a &lsquo;talent fund&rsquo; for startups, with a budget to invest $50,000-500,000 in interesting prospects.

&ldquo;They contributed 100 percent in our first fund to build a track record. We will raise our second round end of October but we&rsquo;re not sure of the closing number [yet],&rdquo; he told Nuwait.

He started attending events, researching,&nbsp;and surrounded himself with techies: Laith Zraikat, who is the founder of review platform Jeeran, engineer Ahmed Takatkah and Anurag Agarwal.

<img alt="" src="https://wamda-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/content/fa53498bb2ec114.jpg" style="height:461px; width:700px" />

Hassan Zainal. (Image via Reine Farhat)

They started the investment process with Russian company Idinaidi.ru.

&ldquo;The founder was decent, we knew them and we thought they can replicate something [like it] in the MENA,&rdquo; Zainal said.

However, the team and the structure was very corporate-driven and rigid. The startup went bankrupt eventually not because of the execution, but due to the Russian currency crisis that started in 2014 and left the startup helpless.

Zainal admitted that the fund had to pick bad deals in the beginning because they needed a good number of deal flow.

&ldquo;We started learning. After a year and a half, we invested in Careem.&rdquo;

Zainal met with Careem cofounder Mudassir Sheikha and the two built a strong business relationship for six months before Arzan took part in Careem&rsquo;s&nbsp;$60 million Series C&nbsp;investment in 2015.

The fund has also closed its latest investment deal with Dubai-based food startup&nbsp;Lunch:on&nbsp;for an undisclosed amount.

A global approach with a local vision

Despite being headquartered in Kuwait with offices in Dubai, the fund&rsquo;s vision isn&rsquo;t focused on the Middle East and North Africa but the founding teams of startups it invests in must either be from the region or willing to target it.

&ldquo;Onfleet has customers in the region and the founder is Jordanian,&rdquo; said Zainal. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re connecting him to clients in this region. We can&rsquo;t add value in the Silicon Valley but we can add value in the MENA.&rdquo;

The region&rsquo;s VCs are growing, learning

BECO Capital research shows the number of incubators and accelerators in the region almost doubling, reaching 24 active VCs over the past 12 months.

Zainal said now the investment scene was dominated by supply and demand - the VCs were now doing the chasing rather than the other way around.

&ldquo;The dynamics of this industry will change in time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo; [For example] we approached Careem.&rdquo;

The process of sealing a deal would also change, as delays caused by startups not knowing their financials, or VCs not understanding the startups&rsquo; dynamics were bound to improve.

&ldquo;We led [an investment in] Mejury, which was a very different experience for us from co-investing. It took longer than our previous deals, because we were very thorough and had to draw up and negotiate all the terms, which all the other investors in the round followed&rdquo;.

With Lunch.on, it was very quick because they already had terms from a lead investor, and the company was still very early stage,&nbsp;clarified Zainal who stressed on the fact that the delay is not always from the startup&#39;s end.

Both sides are learning, and greater understanding about each other&rsquo;s needs makes things more efficient.

Arzan VC's humble beginnings [Know your VC]

Saudi Arabia-based Software as a Service (SaaS) startup Taker, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding in a round led by 500 Startups, Saudi Venture Capital (SVC) and a consortium of angel investors for its&nbsp;online ordering management platform for restaurants.

The funding will be used to invest in research and development (R&amp;D) and further augment the company&rsquo;s proprietary technology which provides several services for restaurants including&nbsp;developing a website and/or building an app to order food online. Restaurants that sign up with Taker can also get their own branded ordering channels.

&ldquo;At Taker, our mission is to make the food ordering process easy and delightful for both our clients and their customers. With the newly raised capital, our highly ambitious team looks forward to further enhancing our online capabilities.&rdquo; said Abdullah Al Asaadi. &ldquo;With the onset of Covid-19, over the past few weeks, we have witnessed a significant surge in demand for our services and hope to see more offline restaurants take advantage of our offerings as we forge ahead to meet the growing demand by facilitating a robust online ordering management platform.&rdquo;

Founded in 2019, Taker has been helping restaurants and other food and drinks suppliers boost their online delivery services and streamline their operations.&nbsp;

&ldquo;Surging demand for online food ordering has resulted in many offline restaurants signing up with Taker within a short period of time. Abdullah and his team have been working very hard to achieve double-digit growth month-on-month and this has made us proud,&rdquo; said Sharif El-Badawi, managing partner at 500 Startups.

Taker raises seed funding

I often get the chance to sit on the fundraising sessions during Wamda&rsquo;s&nbsp;Mix N&rsquo; Mentor&nbsp;events and hear entrepreneurs talk about their challenges when it comes to finding the right investors.

Even though&nbsp;we don&rsquo;t have a shortage of VCs, whether in the region or investing in it, one basic question entrepreneurs keep asking mentors during sessions is&nbsp;&lsquo;how do I find VCs?&rsquo;

Online research will help identify the main investing players, however Kuwait-based&nbsp;<a href="http://arzanvc.com/">Arzan VC</a>&nbsp;decided to meet entrepreneurs halfway.

&nbsp;

Coffee with a VC?

<img alt="Laith" src="http://wamda-prod.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/content/be7fd58a942c6ac.jpg" style="height:312px; width:250px" />

Laith Zraikat (image via Arzan VC)

As part of its new 2016 strategy to become more supportive, go global and become a leader, Arzan VC will be launching &lsquo;office hours&rsquo; services for entrepreneurs in the coming months allowing them to book a meeting with Arzan&rsquo;s team of experts.

A recent addition to this team was Laith Zraikat, who had previously cofounded review platform&nbsp;Jeeran&nbsp;before&nbsp;leaving for a new adventure.

Other team members include senior investment manager&nbsp;Ahmad Takatkah, who is also a mentor for many startups in the region, a member of Endeavor Global Investor Network and founder of the YouTube channel&nbsp;VC preneur;&nbsp;Anurag Agarwal, who is heading the investment cycle at Arzan VC; Arzan&rsquo;s managing partner&nbsp;Hasan Zainal, and others.

&ldquo;Each will have a set number of hours per week displayed on a public calendar,&rdquo; said Zraikat, who emphasized that the new service won&rsquo;t be for pitching or raising funds. &ldquo;We&#39;ll just be entrepreneurs. They shouldn&#39;t pitch to us, but ask us for help and advice.&rdquo;

The help is mutual.

&ldquo;In this region, the whole industry is new. When we offer help, we also ask for help to learn about new trends,&rdquo; said Takatkah. &ldquo;It&#39;s a casual gathering. I don&#39;t like the term office hours.&rdquo;

As part of their goal to become a global VC and invest in startups anywhere in the world, Arzan VC will also be eyeing startups abroad - a step the fund is already taking.

In a previous chat, Takatkah said that the VC strives to be sector and country agnostic, after they invested in Russian real estate portal Idinaidi.ru. Other investments include shopping search engine MENA Commerce, Tamatem, EcoSys, Jamalon and Careem. The fund invests in seed rounds, pre-series A and Series A.

Their latest undisclosed global seed co-investment is in Silicon Valley startup CoContest, a crowdsourcing platform for interior designers. 500 Startups was also an investor.

&ldquo;Their solution works online and can scale,&rdquo; commented Takatkah on their investment in CoContest. &ldquo;Their team is experienced and has almost all the components we look for in a startup.&rdquo;

<img alt="" src="http://wamda-prod.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/content/53e410047ce5112.png" style="height:243px; width:600px" />

A screenshot from CoContest website

To strengthen their foothold in global markets, they have added Lebanese-American&nbsp;Mohamad&nbsp;Charafeddine as an advisor.

He cofounded Jordan-based data solution provider TickerChart and works in product management at Samsung in Silicon Valley. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very well connected to the community in the Silicon Valley,&rdquo; Zraikat said. &ldquo;We plan to build our network there as well so he is going to be helping with that.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;

&lsquo;Open to leading&rsquo;

Arzan VC has been co-investing&nbsp;with other investors such as Wamda Capital, 500 Startups, Hatcher, Silicon Badia and Oasis500 since&nbsp;its inception 18 months ago. They hope to take a more prominent role in future investments.

&ldquo;We want to be open to leading,&rdquo; said Zraikat. &ldquo;In the past, it was co-investing. That was the focus. Now, we feel that we&rsquo;ve identified our strategy better. We will be leading and also be the only [investor]&nbsp;in a round.&rdquo;

Arzan Venture Capital

Funding Deals, by Startup Growth Stage

Funding Deals, by Region

No. of Portfolio Companies

Total No. of Investments Globally, by Year

We Invest in Startups in the Following Stages

Statistics

Sectors we invest in

Top 8 sectors we invest in

Portfolio Companies
or Investments

Executive Team Members

Other Investors

About

Legal

Social Media

Arzan Venture Capital

Funding Deals, by Startup Growth Stage

Funding Deals, by Region

No. of Portfolio Companies

Total No. of Investments Globally, by Year

We Invest in Startups in the Following Stages

Statistics

Sectors we invest in

Top 8 sectors we invest in

Portfolio Companies or Investments

Executive Team Members

Other Investors

About

Legal

Social Media

Portfolio Companies
or Investments