The $50 million fund will be used to invest in impact-driven early-stage firms in Africa and take a selective approach to invest in growth-stage startups globally, according to Endure Capital, a Cairo-based early-stage investment firm.
The Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA), Egypt’s Social Fund for Development, British International Investment (BII), a UK-based development finance institution and impact investor, and founders of other firms in the area are among the investors in the new fund.
Fahim founded Endure Capital in 2015. One of the first institutional investors in Careem, which Uber acquired for $3.1 billion in 2019, was the company’s initial fund.
Additionally, the e-commerce start-ups MaxAB and Breadfast in Egypt are investments made by the fund.
Global startups like Boom Supersonic, Tribal Credit, and Aspect Biosystems are included in the company’s portfolio.
The fund has already invested in a number of businesses. Among these startups are Brimore, an Egyptian social commerce platform; Cassbana, a service that creates financial identities for Egypt’s underserved communities; and Pylon, an intelligent infrastructure management platform offering a subscription-based Smart Metering as a Service (SMaaS) in developing nations.
The Endure Opportunity Fund has also been introduced by the investing company to support its prior top investments. “Our aim as a business is to provide patient, long-term assistance to entrepreneurs,” said Tarek Fahim, founder, and CEO of Endure Capital. “We are here to serve our founders in the long-term and want to invest in their startups’ full lifecycle.
The company’s second venture capital fund is the $50 million Endure21 fund.
With half of the cash set aside for follow-on investments in the portfolio’s top performers, Endure21 will enable the company to adopt “a sector-agnostic approach and invest in 24 firms.”
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