Cairo’s AUC Angels, the first university-based angel investor group in the MENA region, has launched and announced it has made eight investments so far.
Formed at the American University in Cairo (AUC), AUC Angels so far has 65 members and invests in technology-driven early-stage startups across multiple industries.
Through its partnership with AUC Venture Lab, it has access to vetted and highly scalable startups that have already launched their products or services, gained traction in the market, and have a strong chance for positive returns.
Founder and portfolio manager Ahmed Amin told Disrupt Africa the group had already invested in eight Egyptian startups, though only two of those had been made public so far – cleaning services startup Jinni and dental supplies marketplace DentaCarts.
“We want to match the funding that is channelled to pre-Series A startups with that channelled through Series A funding. Currently, Series A funding is 10 times pre-Series A funding, meaning that there are not enough startups making it to Series A stage. We want to grow that pipeline,” Amin said.
AUC Angels plans on investing US$500,000 in between five and seven startups in 2020.
