Seed

Pre-Seed

Pre-Series A

Series B

Series A

Dubai

Amir Farha

Anthony El-Khoury

Yusuf Saber

Mikal Khoso

If you're ready to take your business to the next level with COTU Ventures, we want to hear your pitch.

Investment in Startup

Uncover COTU Ventures's funding history and portfolio trends in Fintech with Lucidity Insights.

COTU Ventures

Fintech

Education

Software Dev/Test

COTU Ventures is a leading seed-stage venture firm in the Middle East. We partner with incredible founders at the beginning of their journey; taking companies from Pre-seed through to Series A and beyond, accelerating their path to product-market fit, and ensuring that they get access to the right capital and expertise along the way.

Huspy

Proptech

Real Estate

Financial Services

Huspy is a proptech company that simplifies the home financing process.

Cercli

Business Development

Enterprise Software

The single modern platform for MENA to run your entire workforce.

Cairo

MoneyHash

Payment

Payments

MoneyHash aims to streamline the development and management of payments, acting as a dedicated payment team by offering a versatile cloud platform so businesses worldwide can focus on their core operations.

Riyadh

Mnzil

Housing

Accommodation

Mnzil is the leading co-living and transportation platform for blue-collar workers in Saudi Arabia, offering tech-powered, affordable, and dignified housing options at scale.

Stitch

Apps

Empowering the new age of banking and payments! Stitch’s unified platform enables businesses to launch, scale, and operate financial products—faster and with more flexibility than ever before.

Supy

Restaurants

Software

Supply Chain Management

Supy is a B2B software solution focused on streamlining transactions between restaurants and suppliers.

zenda

EdTech

zenda is a fintech app that enables to pay school fees with pay-now and pay-later options, unlocking rewards for paying on time.

AdalFi

aydi

SaaS

AgTech

Farming

Cloud

aydi is the essential software for streamlining field operations through user-friendly intuitive tools, providing you with enhanced control over your resources, data, logistics and financials.

Aydis

Rekaz

Information Technology

Business Intelligence

Rekaz offers a system that includes integrated solutions for professional website design and efficient customer, reservation, and subscription management, all through an easy-to-use customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Kingpin

E-Commerce

Retail

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

One connected engine that runs every motion of B2B retail revenue — Find. Reach. Convert. Kingpin is the rebuild.

Qureos

Communities

E-Learning

Recruiting

Qureos is an AI-powered platform that matches employers with qualified candidates and hear back from the recruiters 3X faster and advance to the interview stage.

Sirdab

Logistics

Warehousing

Storage

Sirdab is a technology focused startup offering on-demand warehousing and logistics solutions along with the platform that enables you to manage and optimize your supply chain.

Mayple

Mayple provides consumer brands a quick and affordable way to deliver goods internationally.

Revly

Developer Tools

Revly is an online platform integrating advertisements and data insights on delivery apps.

Live Bazaar

Cassbana

Lending

Cassbana is a technology solution that builds financial identities for the underserved communities in Egypt through micro-lending and building a behavior-based scoring system

Cercli, a UAE-based HRtech company, has raised $4 million in a Seed funding round led by Afore Capital, marking Afore's debut in the MENA region. The round included participation from COTU Ventures, Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, and notable investors such as Karim Atiyeh, Sebastian Mejia, Tony Dong, Tony Jamous, and Allison Pickens. Founded in 2023 by Akeed Azmi and David Reche, Cercli aims to eliminate human error and reduce compliance costs for businesses. The investment will support Cercli's growth and talent acquisition efforts. Since its launch in 2024, Cercli has grown 25% month on month and paid out over $23 million in salaries across 31 countries.

Cercli raises $4 million Seed to cement growth plans

Cercli (YC S23) has raised $4M in seed funding from investors including Afore Capital, COTU Ventures, Y Combinator, and Rebel Fund, as well as notable individuals such as Karim Atiyeh, Sebastian Mejia, Tony Dong, Tony Jamous, and Allison Pickens. The funding will support Cercli's mission to build a modern platform for MENA businesses to hire, manage, and pay their workforce while ensuring compliance.

We’re thrilled to announce that Cercli (YC S23) has raised $4M in seed funding

Pakistani digital lending platform AdalFi said on Thursday it has raised $7.5 million in funding, the first major corporate financing announcement in the South Asian country this year as it grapples with a deepening economic crisis. The funding round was led by UAE-based COTU Ventures and Chimera Ventures, Pakistan-based Fatima Gobi Ventures and Zayn Capital, and &ldquo;angel&rdquo; investors including executives from U.S.- based financial technology and services provider Plaid, AdalFi said in a statement.

Pakistani fintech AdalFi raises $7.5 mln to tackle lending challenges

Zenda (formerly nexopay) told TechCrunch it plans to enter the continent through&nbsp;Egypt&nbsp;&mdash; its third market after India &mdash; in the coming months, as it embarks on a growth drive accelerated by a $9.4 million seed funding it has raised. Among the investors that took part in the seed round were STV, COTU Ventures, Global Founders Capital and VentureSouq.

Zenda gets $9.4M to streamline school fee payment and management

Zenda, a UAE-based startup, has raised $9.4 million in seed funding to expand its app that streamlines school fee payments and offers tuition fee credit to parents. The funding round included investors such as STV, COTU Ventures, Global Founders Capital, and VentureSouq. Zenda plans to use the funds for market development and customer experience, with an expansion into Egypt as its next target. The startup aims to broaden its services to include other personal financial management aspects.

Saudi Arabia-based SaaS startup Rekaz has raised $5 million in seed funding to expand its operating system for service businesses. The round was led by COTU Ventures, with participation from Impact46, Shorooq Partners, Numrah Capital, and angel investors.

Rekaz closes $5 million seed to expand AI-driven SMB platform

UAE-based EdTech&nbsp;Qureos&nbsp;has raised $3M in its pre-seed round led by&nbsp;COTU Ventures, and&nbsp;Colle Capital&nbsp;with participation from global and regional investors, including&nbsp;Globivest,&nbsp;Plutus21 Capital,&nbsp;Dubai Angel Investors, and&nbsp;AlZayani Venture Capital. ​​Several angel investors also took part in the round including current and former leaders of&nbsp;Swvl, Boston Consulting Group, Moelis &amp; Company,&nbsp;Careem, Cisco Systems,&nbsp;Koinz, Message Bird, Bain &amp; Company, Hiperpool, ADNOC, QIA, and other notable individuals.

Qureos secures $3M Pre-SEED

Qureos, a UAE-based edtech and remote work marketplace that is changing how people upskill and get jobs across the globe, plans to grow the uptake of its platform by 10 times this year in its race to create 100 million jobs over the next few years. The startup has today announced closing a $3 million pre-seed funding to accelerate this growth.

Qureos was founded in August last year by Alexander Epure, Mehrad Yaghmai and Usama Nini in a bid to make mentorship more accessible to individuals that are starting out in their careers, or looking to switch jobs.
The pre-seed round was led by Dubai-based COTU Ventures and New York-based Colle Capital — which helped Swvl go public last week through a special purpose acquisition company.

Colle Capital founder and managing partner Victoria Grace said, “We see tremendous opportunity in Qureos’ mission to bridge knowledge gaps and upskill professionals through leveraging the extraordinary pathway with direct mentorship. Simultaneously, this platform provides a fantastic opportunity for highly-skilled individuals to directly monetize their knowledge, compounded by distinct network effects, and for companies to access high-quality and motivated pools of talent.”

The round also had participation from global and regional investors, including Globivest, Plutus21 Capital, Dubai Angel Investors and AlZayani Venture Capital, as well as a number of angel investors, including current and former leaders of Swvl, Boston Consulting Group, Moelis & Company, Careem, Cisco Systems, Koinz, Message Bird, Bain & Company, Hiperpool, ADNOC and QIA.

Qureos raises $3M to grow its learn to earn platform

UAE-based edtech startup Qureos has raised a $3 million pre-Seed round led by COTU Ventures and Colle Capital, with participation from investors such as Globivest, Plutus21 Capital, Dubai Angel Investors, and AlZayani Venture Capital. The funding will be used to build product-led operations and expand its remote-first team, focusing on hiring talent in the UAE, Pakistan, and India. Qureos aims to accelerate careers by making mentorship more accessible and is building an experiential learning community to change how people connect, learn, and work.

Edtech Qureos raises $3 million pre-Seed round

Cassbana builds financial identities for underserved people and businesses in Egypt through micro-lending and a behavior-based scoring system.

Stage
Seed

Partnered
March 2021

Cassbana | COTU Ventures

Huspy, the EMEA proptech startup, has announced a $37 million Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital India to build the future of home buying across the region. Founders Fund and Fifth Wall made their Middle East investment debut in this round. In addition, Chimera Capital joined returning investors Breyer Capital, VentureFriends, COTU, Venture Souq and BY Venture Partners.

Huspy raises $37 million in Series A funding

Huspy, a UAE-based proptech company, raised $37 million in a Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital India. Other participants included Founders Fund, Fifth Wall, Chimera Capital, Breyer Capital, VentureFriends, COTU, Venture Souq, and BY Venture Partners. The funding will be used to expand across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, develop technology, and enhance its property marketplace. Huspy aims to redefine homeownership in the EMEA region and has reached $2 billion in annualized GMV.

Huspy raises $37 million Series A led by Sequoia Capital India

United Arab Emirates-based digital property financing firm Huspy has raised $37 million in a Series A funding round. The capital will be used to invest in technology development and pursue growth in the UAE, Spain, and across Europe.

EMEA Daily: UAE PropTech Startup Huspy Raises $37M

If you walked into a Dubai bank to apply for a mortgage in 2020, chances are you’d spend months buried in paperwork or face a huge price discrepancy when it came to listings. Such experiences led Jad Antoun to start Huspy, a startup streamlining how people in the UAE buy homes digitally.

Over the past five years, the company has grown into one of the largest proptechs in the UAE, and has expanded into Spain, by providing digital tools for finding homes and obtaining mortgages.


Huspy just closed a $59 million Series B to double down on operations across the Middle East and expand its European presence, led by existing investor Balderton Capital.

In 2022, Huspy raised over $40 million in Series A and an extension from a who’s who of global investors, including Balderton Capital, Founders Fund, and Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA).

Other investors include ExBorder Partners, Turmeric Capital, COTU Ventures, BY Ventures, Dara Management, and KE Partners. The new capital will fuel Huspy’s continued growth in the UAE and Spain and support its launch in Saudi Arabia, Antoun told TechCrunch in an interview.


This investment is significant because proptech has been a tough sector over the past couple of years. Companies like Opendoor and Compass have struggled to maintain valuations and profitability amid higher U.S. interest rates. Many startups have also burned through cash and struggled.

Huspy has “built a repeatable and efficient playbook for city launches, and their pace of innovation — especially around AI tools for brokers and agents — continues to raise the bar for the entire industry,” said Rana Yared, general partner at Balderton Capital.

Antoun said he learned through his first market in the UAE how to target pain points in a country’s mortgage process. He struck partnerships with leading banks and introduced digital pre-approvals on a platform connecting brokers and borrowers.

Sequoia Capital India and Founders Fund back UAE-based proptech startup Huspy in its $37M round

Within three years, the company says it captured 30% of the UAE mortgage market (25% in Dubai, one of the world’s most active real estate markets). That traction, and the exclusive banking relationships it built as a result, became a springboard for expansion.

In 2022, it began scaling into Spain, a fragmented real estate market with over 100,000 registered agents, according to Antoun.


Rather than owning inventory like iBuyer models or operating as a traditional brokerage, Huspy runs a network-based model across the UAE and Spain. Freelance agents use the platform to access property leads from marketplaces like Property Finder and Idealista, while Huspy provides CRM tools, transaction support, and integrated mortgage products through its banking partners.

It’s a low-overhead approach that resembles Uber for real estate more than Zillow.

Antoun, previously on the investment team at Dubai-based early-stage VC Beco Capital, and deputy CEO Ziad Nassar, who leads Huspy’s European expansion, believe the company has found a repeatable model that will be hard to replicate: enter mid-sized cities with high transaction volume and low agent efficiency, build supply through marketplace partnerships, onboard top-performing agents onto the platform, and layer in mortgage distribution.


In under a year, Huspy claims to be one of the top three real estate companies in Valencia by transaction volume. It already operates in six cities across Spain, where it claims over 20x year-on-year growth.

“I think it’s going to be difficult for someone to compete on the mortgage product specifically across both markets,” said Antoun. “We’ve just been here longer, and in Spain, we have better efficiency.”

Antoun says the startup has helped over 25,000 people buy homes across its markets and has grown revenue more than 10x since 2022. The platform, which earns revenue through commissions and success fees, usually from real estate agents and banks, facilitates over $7 billion in transactions.

Over the next four years, the company plans to launch in most major cities across Europe and the Middle East, a region currently having its proptech moment, with another major player, Nawy, also raising a significant round this year. Huspy plans to operate in over 10 cities by the end of 2025.

UAE proptech Huspy raises $59M to scale in Europe

DUBAI, UAE and MADRID, July 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Huspy (www.huspy.com), the proptech company reshaping home buying experiences from the Middle East to Europe, today announced the close of a $59 million Series B funding round, led by returning investor, Balderton Capital, one of Europe's leading venture firms. The round also saw participation for a third time from Peak XV (formerly Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia), as well as ExBorder Partners, Turmeric Capital, BY Ventures, Dara Management, COTU Ventures and KE Partners.

Huspy raises $59 million Series B led by Balderton Capital to accelerate expansion across Europe and the Middle Eas

Egypt and U.S.-based&nbsp;MoneyHash&nbsp;is one such company, emerging from beta with $3 million in pre-seed funding. The company describes itself as the Middle East and Africa&rsquo;s &ldquo;first super-API for payment orchestration and revenue operations.&rdquo; The pre-seed round is an extension of an undisclosed six-figure raise MoneyHash announced last June from investors Ventures Platform, Kepple Africa Ventures, LoftyInc Capital and lead COTU Ventures.

MoneyHash gets $3M to build a super-API for payment operations in Africa, Mideast

MoneyHash, an Egyptian US-based fintech startup that uses a universal API and a unified checkout experience to help businesses consolidate and grow their payments and financial tech stack across Africa and the Middle East, closes a six-figure pre-seed round to launch its services across the region. The round was led by UAE&rsquo;s venture capital firm&nbsp;COTU Ventures, with participation from the&nbsp;Ventures Platform,&nbsp;Kepple Africa Ventures, and angel investors.

MoneyHash raises six-figure pre-Seed round

Supy, UAE-based B2B food marketplace, raised $8m in a Seed round led by&nbsp;BECO Capital&nbsp;with participation from Valia Ventures&nbsp;and&nbsp;COTU Ventures, Global Ventures and AMK Investment Office.

Supy, UAE’s B2B food marketplace, raises $8m in a Seed round

Supy, a UAE-based startup digitising the communication process between restaurants and suppliers, today announced that it has raised $1.5 million in pre-Seed funding. The round was co-led by UAE-based investor COTU Ventures and US-based Valia Ventures (marking their first investment in Mena).

Supy raises $1.5 million pre-Seed round

Supy, a UAE-based B2B food marketplace, raised $1.5 million in a Pre-Seed funding round co-led by COTU Ventures and Valia Ventures. The funds will be used to support Supy's offerings and expand its operations and markets. Founded in January 2021, Supy aims to streamline the ordering process for restaurants and suppliers, providing real-time analytics and reducing wastage. The platform already serves over 1,000 restaurants and suppliers in the UAE.

Supy Raises $1.5 Million in Pre-Seed Funding

Supy, a UAE-based food marketplace startup, raised $8 million in a seed funding round led by BECO Capital, with participation from Valia Ventures, COTU Ventures, Global Ventures, and AMK Investment Office. The funds will be used to enhance Supy's product offerings, improve technology, and expand into the Saudi market. Supy aims to launch a settlement and payment solution to assist suppliers and restaurants in managing invoices and cash flow.

UAE's Food Marketplace Supy Raises $8 Million in Seed Funding Round

Supy, a UAE-based B2B food company, raised over $8 million in a seed funding round led by BECO Capital, with participation from Valia Ventures, COTU Ventures, Global Ventures, and AMK Investment Office. The funds will be used to enhance technology, expand in Saudi Arabia, and launch a settlement and payment solution to aid suppliers and restaurants in managing invoices and cash flow.

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