Egypt’s Sawari Ventures is launching a $55 million (1 billion EGP) VC fund later this year or early 2019. Mohamed Ragaai, Head of Investment with Banque du Caire told Egyptian daily, Al Mal.
However, the timing of the launch depends on the approvals Sawari Ventures need from the Central Bank of Egypt.
According to Mohamed Ragaai, other investors in the fund, include National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr and the European Investment Bank. He added that the country’s investment and telecom ministries are also looking into the option of investing in the fund.
It’s the same fund Wael Amin, a partner with Sawari Ventures talked about in his interview with Al Mal earlier this year.
In his conversation, the Sawari Ventures partner had said that they’re expected to close the first tranche of $55 million fund within a month and that it will invest the money into 15 to 20 startups in education, energy-generation, and healthcare fields, with ticket sizes in the range of $2.5 million.
It is not clear whether the fund will be invested only in Egyptian startups or beyond.