COTU Ventures, a Dubai-based VC firm, founded by Amir Farha, has closed its inaugural fund with $54 million, it announced in a statement today. Amir has been a key figure for the VC ecosystem in the Middle East & North Africa for a very long time.
He co-founded BECO Capital with Dany Farha in 2012 that went on to invest in companies like Careem, Property Finder, Kitopi, and Fresha, at their early stages.
Amir left BECO in 2020 and founded COTU (which stands for Champions of the Underdog) in 2021 to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage startups across the region.
The fund has already invested in over 20 startups across the region, including UAE-based mortgage platform Huspy, Egypt-based payments startup MoneyHash, Pakistani digital lending platform AdalFi, and Saudi on-demand warehousing startup Sirdab.
COTU Ventures is sector-agnostic and invests between $500,000 to $1.5 million as a first check in early-stage startups across Middle East & North Africa, with a focus on three markets; UAE, Saudi, and Egypt.
The investors in its debut fund include Abu Dhabi-based Lunate, Mubadala, Dubai Future District Fund, Jordan’s Arab Bank, Bupa Arabia. Different family offices and GPs from VCs, including Foundry Group, Tribe Capital, and Stride also invested in the fund.
Amir Farha, the founder and General Partner of COTU Ventures, commenting on the announcement, said, “I’ve been a part of the regional ecosystem since 2008, and it’s come a long way since then. Saudi Arabia has opened up internationally, and governments have been driving policies and investment to activate the technology sectors of their local economies. We have a young and growing population of tech-savvy, digitally connected consumers with substantial spending power.”
“When you combine all of this with remarkably low customer acquisition costs and some of the highest revenues per user, there has never been a better and more profitable time to invest in the region than today,” he added.
Sharif El-Badawi, the CEO of Dubai Future District Fund said, “We’re proud to have backed a fund that’s distinguished not only by its impressive portfolio but by the exceptional leadership and track record of its founding partner, Amir. Our confidence in Amir stems from his deep passion for supporting founders and his proven ability to find remarkable investment opportunities before anyone else.”
“Over the past couple of years, COTU has established itself as a true advocate for entrepreneurs, earning widespread recognition as a champion of early-stage companies and the regional ecosystem as a whole. Amir’s commitment and strategic foresight have been instrumental in our decision to invest in COTU’s first fund, and we hope to continue our support in the future,” he added.
