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21/2/2022
MEVP investor conference 2021
Message from our CEO
Dear Founders, Entrepreneurs, Co-investors, LPs, Media and Friends,

I would like to start by wishing you a great 2022, especially health and happiness.

Thank you for those who attended our Investor Conference in Dubai on November 25th, 2021. It was a great turnout, and we were happy to reconnect with you after the Covid confinement.

2021 was a record year for the MENATP investment scene. Regional startups witnessed a record amount of funding with a total of $11.4B+. The pandemic fueled an acceleration in digitization, the use of online payments and the exponential growth of several sectors such as E-commerce, Fintech, Edutech and Healthtech.

MEVP announced 7 exits in 2021 with an average of 11x cash on cash. We are also proud to share that one of our MEVP pocos has made it to NASDAQ as the FIRST Arab technology company, albeit through a SPAC merger.

In 2021 we have also announced several investments in amazing companies that will be shaping the future of our region across several key sectors: healthtech, fintech, crypto, cloud kitchen, etc. and most have witnessed significant uprounds led by Tier 1 global investors such as Kleiner Perkins, Paradigm, General Atlantic, Coinbase, APIS etc. In this newsletter we are happily sharing our detailed performance.

Looking forward, we feel confident about 2022 and blessed to be exposed to these high growth sectors in the digital economy. We expect to launch our fourth MENA fund MEVF IV during 2022 and we look forward to more exciting times!

Wishing you a great 2022!


Walid Hanna

MEVP 2021 Exits
It has been a record year for MEVP with 7 exits:
Anghami: Merged with a NASDAQ listed SPAC Vistas Media Acquisition Company at a $180M pre-money valuation. The transaction has been announced on March 3rd, 2021. This resulted in a 22x cash-on-cash for MEVF and an IRR of 50%. Since listing on NASDAQ on February 4 2022, the price per share has increased more than 30% and so did our cash-on-cash multiple.
Fresha: Partial Exit to General Atlantic (G.A) 52x cash-on-cash on our Seed round and an 90%+ IRR to MEVFII. This partial Exit is part of a $100M Equity round at a $300M valuation led by General Atlantic.
TreasuryXpress: Sold to Bottomline Technologies (NASDAQ: EPAY) for $33M yielding a 4x cash-on-cash for MEVF. Closed in January 2021.

In turn, Bottomline Technologies announced in December that they are being acquired by private equity firm Thomas Bravo in a $2.6B cash deal.
HyperPay: Completed exit of MEVF’s 8% ownership in HyperPay 2021 yielding a 7.4x cash-on-cash.
The Luxury Closet: MEVF exited its shares through a $14M round led by HB Investments. The exit resulted in a 2.4x cash-on-cash.
Lamsa: MEVF exited its shares in Lamsa at a small profit level.
Eventtus: Bevy, a global enterprise community event platform acquired Eventtus in July 2021.
New Investments
The investment team at MEVP screened over 1000 applications for funding in 2021 that resulted in 4 exciting new investments from MEVF III listed below.
yodawy
Series A of $7.5M
Led the round with Global Ventures and Algebra Ventures
Egypt's Leading Health and Wellbeing Platform
oto
Seed of $3M
Co-led the $3M round with Derayah Capital.
OTO is MENA’s #1 all-in-one shipping management software for ecommerce businesses and Omnichannel retailers.
verto
Series A of $10M
Invested in their Series A round, along with Quona Capital and TMT.
Verto is a Leading B2B cross-border payment provider and currency exchange marketplace for micro, small and medium enterprises in Africa.
mamo pay
Pre-Series A of $8M
Invested in the round, along with Global Ventures, 4DX Ventures and others.
Mamo Pay is a zero fees mobile and web application that enables individuals and groups (and communities) to transfer, collect, pledge and sell through mindful micropayments.
Follow On Investments
rain
Invested $4M in a $110M Series B round co-led by Paradigm and Kleiner Perkins
nana
Invested in a $15M bridge round led by STV (Saudi Telecom Ventures) multiplying our share’s value –on paper- by 3x
sarwa
Invested with $1.2M in a $15M Series B round led by Mubadala
lyve
Invested $5M as part a $50M bridge to series D
the cloud
Co-Led a $8M+ Series A round with Olayan with a $3M ticket.
bykea
Invested $1M as part of a $5M bridge to Series C
Led a $3M round along with valley based MSAD
eat
Invested $1M as part of a $2.5M Bridge Round
eat
Invested $1M as part of a $120M Round led by Apis Partners
the luxury closet
Invested as part of a $14M led by GMP Investments
Selected Portfolio Company Updates (2021 Figures)
rain
$1.7B+ GTV
$110M Series B round co-led by Paradigm and Kleiner Perkins
fresha
$640M Valuation
$100M Series C round led by General Atlantic
nana
$50M Round led by FIM
lyve
Partnered with ADIO
Launched in KSA
$15M Round led by Savola
the luxury closet
Round led by GMP
halan
Merged with MNT
$120M Round led by Apis Partners
bykea
Launched Bykea Cash
2.5M+ Trips/month
$30M Round currently being raised
sarwa
$15.5M Round led by Mubadala
trukker
$96M Series B equity and debt round led by STV, ADQ and Mars Growth Capital
yodawy
$24M Annualized GMV
2.4x since investment
$325M Value Shared
1M Users
100K Cards Issued
2.4x since investment
MEVP ESG Impact
We monitor the environmental, social, and governance aspects of our portfolio companies across the entire investment lifecycle.

We have developed a set of guidelines for our portfolio companies to follow across several ESG dimensions:
Team Updates
We are happy to announce the following promotions that took place in 2021:
  • Promotion of 2 new partners:
    • Riyad Abou Jaoudeh
    • Hala Rouphael
  • 5 other promotions:
    • Jad El Boustani to Managing Director
    • Ankit Sarwahi to Managing Director
    • Ali Almajthoob to Executive Director
    • Gaelle Yammine to Associate
Growing the MEVP Family

maher hammoud Maher Hammoud
Part-time Venture Partner

Maher has 20+ years of experience in Venture Capital and Private Equity. He was the Vice President and Head of Private Equity & Corporate Development at Olayan Financing Company (OFC) in KSA. Prior to Olayan, Maher was a Managing Director and the Head of Principal Investments at Shuaa Capital, a leading investment firm in GCC.

vincent ghossoub Vincent Ghossoub
Part-time Venture Partner (Web3.0, NFT, Crypto)

Vincent is a gaming reference in the Middle East. During the past 10 years he has developed more than 5 midcore games that attracted a large user base of more than 2.5M users and generated more than $10M in revenues. Vince has been a pioneer in the Arabic MENA gaming scene and was the first to produce RPG and Strategy games with authentic Arabic content.
michel kallas Michel Kallas
Investment Analyst

Michel has 3+ years of experience in finance, telecom, and information technology. He is currently co-leading MEVP’s Web3 investments. Prior to joining MEVP, Michel held an internship in the Information Technology Department at Deloitte (M.E.) and in both Lebanese Telecom companies Alfa and Touch. Michel holds a Bachelor (with distinction) in Computer and Communication Engineering from the American University of Beirut.

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