Egypt-focused angel investor network Cairo Angels has announced the first close of the Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund (CASF), a Delaware-based angel fund that will invest between US$100,000 and US$250,000 in startups based across the Middle East and Africa.
At launch, Cairo Angels was Egypt’s first formal network of angel investors, and since its formation it has been one of the most active early-stage investors in startups and high growth businesses in the Middle East and Africa, with 31 investee companies across 18 different sectors.
Its syndicate fund is a micro venture capital fund that invests in post-seed and pre-Series A startups, with a particular focus on Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa.
Apart from the investment made by the fund, CASF also negotiates additional co-investment rights for its LPs on a deal by deal basis, allowing the fund’s investors to double down on opportunities.
With its first close, the fund is ready to deploy capital, and it is already in negotiations with several startups that fit within its investment thesis, which targets sector-agnostic and early-stage scalable platforms that have strong sector experience and technical teams.
In order to democratise access to this exciting asset class, CASF intentionally focused fundraising for first close on individual investors and family offices. The only exception was one institutional investor, which has provided a soft commitment to invest and support the fund, and will be formally joining in Q1 of next year.
CASF will now focus on achieving the final close and reaching its funding target of US$5 million, for which it is in advanced discussions.
“This fund is a natural step in the evolution of the Cairo Angels,” said Aly El Shalakany, chief executive officer (CEO) of CASF.
“It couples our already strong deal sourcing platform with a faster and more rigorous due diligence and capital deployment capability further down the value chain. This is the new missing middle.”
