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Explore our featured articles to gain insights, inspiration, and the latest company updates through blogs, videos, podcasts, and news.
LATEST
Shorooq Signs 2 MOUs during Korean President’s Visit to UAE
Korean President Yoon’s four-day trip to the UAE has been pivotal in paving the way for further cooperation and mutual trust between the two countries. Shorooq Partners was also present at the the UAE-Korea Business Forum and signed 2 MOUs with Korean companies.
Shorooq Signs 2 MOUs during Korean President’s Visit to UAE
Korean President Yoon’s four-day trip to the UAE has been pivotal in paving the way for further cooperation and mutual trust between the two countries. Shorooq Partners was also present at the the UAE-Korea Business Forum and signed 2 MOUs with Korean companies.
Bridging South Korea and MENA - Efforts and Developments
A few months ago, Shorooq Partners facilitated a trip for Saudi delegation to visit key stakeholders in Korea, including but not limited to sovereign wealth funds, unicorns, startups and asset managers. More recently, we have led another Saudi delegation trip to Korea and met with the country’s leading gaming companies, including Kakao Games, Krafton, and Com2uS.
Bridging South Korea and MENA - Efforts and Developments
A few months ago, Shorooq Partners facilitated a trip for Saudi delegation to visit key stakeholders in Korea, including but not limited to sovereign wealth funds, unicorns, startups and asset managers. More recently, we have led another Saudi delegation trip to Korea and met with the country’s leading gaming companies, including Kakao Games, Krafton, and Com2uS.
Startup Series: Lendo – Serving SMEs Invoice Financing
As the Kingdom’s first-ever company to obtain the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)’s license to operate as a Shari’ah-compliant debt crowdfunding company, Lendo has earned and demonstrated investors’ trust in its financing solutions as a preferred option for small businesses seeking quick access to capital.
Startup Series: Lendo – Serving SMEs Invoice Financing
As the Kingdom’s first-ever company to obtain the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)’s license to operate as a Shari’ah-compliant debt crowdfunding company, Lendo has earned and demonstrated investors’ trust in its financing solutions as a preferred option for small businesses seeking quick access to capital.
BLOGS
Shorooq Partners Announces New Investment in Intelmatix
We are thrilled to announce our latest investment achievements and our unwavering commitment to fostering innovation across the Middle East. Our recent ventures highlight our leadership in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deep tech sectors, reinforcing our dedication to supporting groundbreaking startups and driving technological advancements in the region.
Shorooq Partners at the Forefront of the K-MENA Alliance
Shorooq Partners shines in the spotlight of Korean media, showcasing our leadership in the K-MENA alliance. With Nathan Kwon's insights in Munhwa Ilbo highlighting our pivotal role in bridging South Korea's deep tech with the Middle East, we're driving innovation and collaboration across borders.
Semiconductor Visual Inspection Industry Projections (2024)
Deep learning models are stepping in to fill this gap, significantly enhancing defect detection accuracy and offering a substantial ROI. The Asia-Pacific market is expected to see a robust growth rate of 7% through 2027, with North America close behind at 6.5%, fueled by strategic federal initiatives.
Proteinea's Pioneering Approach to AI-Designed Therapeutics
Proteinea’s application of AI in protein engineering and biotherapeutics design exemplifies the advancements we aim to foster. With the development of Ankh, an unprecedented protein transformer, Proteinea is advancing healthcare to become more proactive, precise, and personalized. This partnership underscores our commitment to nurturing innovations that promise a healthier tomorrow.
Immensa: Spearheading AI in Smart Manufacturing
From transformative investments in digital warehousing to pioneering additive manufacturing for spare parts, Immensa has been committed to setting new industry standards in the MENA region. Read about their journey towards creating a more efficient and sustainable world through comprehensive application of AI across the manufacturing processes.
Unlocking New Horizons: Strengthening Korea-Middle East Ties
Amidst the GCC’s recent efforts to forge stronger economic ties with global counterparts, Shorooq Partners has played a pivotal role in bridging the gap between the Middle East and the Far East. Our colleagues, Shane Shin and Nathan Kwon, had an exclusive interview with the Korean Press EDAILY, offering insights into our firm's perspectives and aspirations.
The Vision: Investment in Pearl Semiconductor – Part 2
Why did we invest in Pearl Semiconductor? Shorooq Partners shares the Company’s grand vision – one that sees Egypt as a vibrant hub teeming with highly skilled design engineers. Our ambition for the Company reaches beyond technology; it’s about unlocking the untapped potential of the vast, yet underutilized talent pool, capable of innovating differentiated products.
Shorooq Partners Ushers a New Era of Innovation
We are excited to unveil a new chapter in our journey – a venture into the semiconductor landscape with our investment in Pearl Semiconductor, a fabless semiconductor company specializing in Timing ICs and Reference Clocks. Before we delve deeper into this pioneering collaboration, let’s embark on Pearl’s journey in semiconductor innovation, a narrative that traces back to the early 1990s.
Reigniting Saudi Arabia
In an exclusive interview with Fox News, HRH the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made a powerful declaration: "the greatest success story of the 21st century is Saudi Arabia." These words not only reflect his unwavering belief in the nation's potential but also echo his steadfast commitment to a future defined by innovation and prosperity – all of which resonate deeply at Shorooq Partners.
Shorooq Partners' New Investment in Virtualness
We're thrilled to announce our latest investment in Virtualness. Virtualness, recognizing the impact of technology on the rise of the global creator economy, has embarked on a journey to amplify this impact with AI and blockchain towards a Web 3.0 future. Their belief is clear - everything that can transition from a physical form to digital will make that leap.
Shorooq Continues to Lead South Korea-Middle East Corridor
Last month, Shorooq Partners was reported as the most active investor in the MEAPT (Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Turkey) region by deployed capital and among the top by number of deals. But our investment activities do not stop inland – we recently invested in Dtonic, a Korean DeepTech company that specializes in data infrastructure software solutions for efficient spatio-temporal big data processing.
Startup Series: Lendo – Serving SMEs Invoice Financing
As the Kingdom’s first-ever company to obtain the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)’s license to operate as a Shari’ah-compliant debt crowdfunding company, Lendo has earned and demonstrated investors’ trust in its financing solutions as a preferred option for small businesses seeking quick access to capital.
Learning from Korea's Special IPO Track for Startups
One notable development in Korea we wish to introduce one day to the Middle East is a special fast-track listing of innovative startups on the Korean Exchange (KRX). But we believe everything starts with a thought, a discussion, and an action. Please join us in our dialogue and journey of shaping the VC landscape in the MENAP region. For starters, we wholeheartedly agree that SMEs and startups are a key engine of our economy. How can we better facilitate access to capital markets for local startups?
VIDEOS
Meet Mohammed AlTwaijri
Mohammed AlTwaijri is an investment professional at Shorooq Partners in Riyadh, with a background in entrepreneurship, having built and exited multiple F&B and retail ventures. He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and Electronics and enjoys chess in his free time.
Pure Harvest: The UAE's solution for the future of food
To most, the desert represents emptiness. Sky Kurtz saw it as a land of opportunities. His startup, Pure Harvest Smart Farms, is revolutionising hydroponic farming, enabling high-quality fresh fruits, vegetables and leafy greens to grow in the harshest of landscapes. That is, the UAE's sand dunes.
يوسف البابطين: الذكاء الاصطناعي عنصر حيوي في القطاع الصحي
وفي مقابلة مع سكاي نيوز عربية، تحدث يوسف البابطين، الشريك في شروق بارتنرز، عن قطاع الذكاء الاصطناعي الناشئ، مؤكداً أنه لا يزال في مراحله الأولى. وسلط الضوء على كيفية دعم دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة والمملكة العربية السعودية بشكل فعال لتطوير الذكاء الاصطناعي، حيث تمثل المنطقة حاليًا 2٪ فقط من سوق الذكاء الاصطناعي العالمي.
VC React Podcast (E2)
In the second episode of the VC React Podcast, Shorooq Partners' Tamer Azer joins to discuss key industry news, including WakeCap's acquisition of Crews by Core to enhance global construction projects and Hashed Ventures' expansion to Abu Dhabi's crypto and tech sectors. The episode also covers Breega's new Africa fund and Saudi Arabia's Esports World Cup, with insights into how these developments are shaping the MENA region.
Meet Dr. Bilal Baloch
Dr. Bilal Baloch leads value creation a Shorooq Partners, the region’s fastest growing venture capital fund. Bilal is the Co-Founder and Board Member of Enquire AI, a software company that uses artificial intelligence to verify and deliver expert insights to organizations worldwide. He was formerly COO and then Co-CEO of the firm from 2016-2023. He holds a patent, with his co-founders, on the matching technology undergirding the Enquire AI platform.
Meet Zebo Furqatzoda
At Shorooq Partners, we believe in nurturing the next generation of innovators and leaders. We recently sat down with one of our brilliant former interns to hear about their transformative experience with us. Their journey was filled with hands-on learning, mentorship, and the opportunity to work on impactful projects.
Meet Selim Tira
Meet Selim, a Strategy Associate at Shorooq Partners, who focuses on evaluating and launching new fund opportunities, while providing strategic and operational support to portfolio companies. With experience in strategy consulting and investment banking, he has a strong background in tech-related finance and holds advanced degrees from Sciences Po, Paris, and Bocconi University, Milan.
Building the region’s investment manager
From engineer to leading venture capitalist in the region, Mahmoud Adi has built a multidisciplinary career that’s now shaping the future of tech in the Middle East. As the founding partner of Shorooq Partners, he invests in leading tech companies and drives innovation.
RCP #5 An alternative path to VC in MENA, with Tamer Azer
In this video, Tamer Azer, a partner at Shorooq Partners, discusses his journey as an investor, the challenges of building a reputation in new markets, and insights on Egypt's startup recovery. He also delves into fintech models, regional infrastructure challenges, the future of climate tech, and opportunities in the MENA venture capital space.
يوسف البابطين في برنامج ريادة للتحدث عن مستجدات منظومة الاست
في هذه الحلقة من برنامج ريادة، نتحدث عن أحدث المستجدات في منظومة الاستثمار الجريء في السعودية، حيث ينضم الشريك في شروق بارتنرز، يوسف البابطين، مباشرة من الرياض. نستعرض التحديات والفرص التي تواجه الشركات الناشئة في المنطقة ونتحدث عن قطاعات الاستثمار المستقبلية.
Meet Sofia Tulupova
Meet Sofia. Sofia has nearly a decade of experience in debt investing across emerging and developed markets, leading investments in Europe and MENAP at Symbiotics. Fluent in Russian, English, and French, she enjoys mindfulness practices and outdoor adventures with her daughter.
Fueling Tech Innovation in Dubai
This blog post summarizes insights from a panel discussion at our AGM event, moderated by Mohammad Alblooshi of DIFC Innovation Hub and FinTech Hive. Panelists, including leaders from Shorooq Partners, Outliers Venture Capital, and Emirates Investment Authority, covered topics such as the impact of SVB’s collapse, the "capital drought," assessing startups, ChatGPT, healthcare opportunities, and advice for founders.
Mahmoud Adi on Breaking Growth Barriers through Endeavor
"If you are growing from Pakistan today to the US or to Egypt or to Saudi - what has worked for you in this market probably would need rethinking. It is a lot more insightful for you to talk to people who have gone through it and who can give you some tips to make sure you are a lot more efficient in that growth plan." Mahmoud Adi talks about the insight that Endeavor entrepreneurs can gain from the experiences of mentors within the Endeavor network.
MENAPT Investment Landscape - MC 2023
We are honored to present a profound session by Tarek Fouad, a Partner at Shorooq Partners, at the Mobidictum Conference 2023. Tarek is a beacon of visionary leadership in the tech investment and fund management sphere across the MENAP region, leading the acclaimed SHFT incubator and accelerator and pioneering initiatives in the Gametech sector.
Investing in MEA & Spotting the Next Big Thing – Mahmoud Adi
In this episode, I had a conversation with Mahmoud Adi, Founding Partner of Shorooq Partners and Co-Founder & Board Member at Pure Harvest Smart Farms, the largest Agri tech business in MENA region. Mahmoud is a celebrated Entrepreneur, a successful Venture Capitalist leading one of the largest tech investment firms in emerging markets and sitting on the Board of various companies.
شاهد حديث محمود عدي، الشريك المؤسس لشركة شروق بارتنرز، عن تد
شاهد حديث محمود عدي، الشريك المؤسس لشركة شروق بارتنرز، المستثمر التكنولوجي الرائد في الشرق الاوسط، شمال أفريقيا و باكستان عن تداعيات إنهيار سيليكون فالي بنك و الإجراءات الاستباقية التي اتخذتها الشركة لحماية أموال المستثمرين و ما هي الخطة المستقبلية لتجنب حدوث هذه المخاطر في المستقبل.
Bridging the investment gap between Korea & the MENA region.
In this episode, Shane Shin, Founding Partner at Shorooq Partners, shares key lessons from his journey, Shorooq’s investment thesis, and how he sources deals. He also discusses his investment criteria, process, thoughts on firing founders, fund returns, governance as a board member, and Shorooq's long-term vision.
Egyptian Investors Give Insider’s Advice to Female Founders
Amal Enan Managing Partner at Lotus Capital, Minoush Abdelmeguid Founding Partner of Mezzan, Hany Assaad Managing Director at Avanz Capital, Tamer Azer Partner at Shorooq Partners give practical advice for female founders on how to approach investors and how to “game” the system that is usually stacked against female founders.
Shane Shin on Shorooq Partners' Investment in Mantra ($OM)
MANTRA ($OM), the Layer 1 blockchain for Real World Assets (RWA), has announced the completion of a new funding round. Top venture and technology investor in the MENA region, Shorooq Partners, led the $11M investment round. Additionally, a diverse range of strategic investors such as Three Point Capital, Forte Securities, Virtuzone, Hex Trust, GameFi Ventures, Caladan, Token Bay Capital, BlackPine, Mapleblock, Fuse Capital and others, joined the funding.
The Egypt - Pakistan Venture Corridor
Joining "The Egypt - Pakistan Venture Corridor" webinar are Hadeer Shalaby (MD, talabat), Mahmoud Ibrahim (Co-Founder & CEO, Homzmart), Sumair Farooqui (Co-Founder, Kashat Egypt), Tamer Azer (Partner, Shorooq Partners), and Faisal Aftab (Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Zayn Capital). Our host will be Ovais N. (Partner, Rise Capital). Our guests will be sharing knowledge of their ecosystems and discuss potential lessons to be learnt and the areas of collaboration.
Startup Talks Ep. 54 | Tina Daher | Shorooq Partners | VC
Shorooq Partners enjoys backing from prominent institutional investors like Mubadala, Saudi Venture Capital Company, AlWaha, Jada, ADQ and KVIC. In our candid chat with Tina, we try and explore Shorooq's investment ethos, sectors it operates in, values it brings to the table and its future plans.
SEF 2021 | TODAY'S EMPLOYEES, TOMORROW'S ENTREPRENEURS
As momentous as Careem’s journey as a startup was, perhaps its more important legacy will be in how it gave rise to a whole new set of entrepreneurs who are today making waves around the MENA region and beyond. In a conversation featuring past and current employees of Careem, we look into the factors that made this success story possible, and how other enterprises–startup or otherwise–can follow their lead in shaping innovators of the future.
The Network Effect 02 - Achieving Success Through Investment
On the second episode of the show, we had the pleasure of being joined by Shane Shin (شين شن) 유근. Shane co-founded Shorooq Partners, a leading early-stage, technology-focused venture capital firm in the GCCC region which has been acclaimed by Forbes Middle East as one of the Top-20 VC in the entire Middle East.
Middle East, True Potential of the Region: Shane Shin WKF'20
Since the discovery of oil in the Middle East during the early 1900s, Middle East has been one of the world’s largest producer / exporters of oil and this is how the world has been looking at the region. Yet, over the last many years, the region has been gradually yet surely transitioning to the post-oil era, driven by talents, innovation, technology and financial services among others. This session is to highlight Middle East in a concise summary and illustrate what the region is really about, and what we can do to be part of this gigantic movement happening in the region. There are too many mistrued preconceptions towards the Middle East and we hope to demystify this.
ADGM Developing a strong vibrant VC ecosystem in the ME
ADGM is pleased to host a live webcast session with prominent experts from VC Circle, Global Ventures, Shorooq Partners and VentureSouq, who will provide insights on the Middle East’s ever evolving start-up investments and VC ecosystem.
Africa Tech Summit Connects - Spotlight on Egyptian Tech Sce
Africa Tech Summit Connects is a digital series to share insights and resources from across the African tech ecosystem and connect the industry through webinars and online content. Recorded on April 30th we discussed the current market in Egypt with Tamer Azer Principal at Sawari Ventures.
021Disrupt2019|To Lead or Not to Lead: Early Stage Investing
Shane Shin, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Shorooq Partners, talked about leading (or not) early stage startup investments and why it’s important to look for an investor who can fully partner up and fight for you for a successful capital raising.
Why do VCs Invest | Shane Shin, Shorooq Investments
Startup Hustle Middle East had the chance to catch up with Shane and discuss what the motivations were behind Shorooq investments backing four startups. These startups are from different industries and were at different stages on their startup journey, but there are definitely some commonalities between the four, that makes them investable. If you are a startup looking to raise and don't know how to approach VCs or what they look for, this episode is for you!
PODCASTS
GroundBreakers Ep. 6 | The AI Playbook
In this episode, we interview Dr. Eric Siegel (@EricSiegelPredicts) the co-founder and CEO of Gooder AI, about the field of machine learning and its deployment in organizations. We discuss the importance of deploying machine learning models and the challenges that organizations face in achieving successful deployment.
GroundBreakers Ep. 5 | Inside Dubai's Real Estate Leader
In this conversation, Tarek Fouad interviews Firas Al Msaddi, the founder and CEO of FAM Properties, Dubai's largest real estate company. They discuss the role of technology in the real estate market, and the success of FAM Properties' ERP system. They also touch on the impact of COVID-19 on the real estate market and the recent increase in interest rates.
GorundBreakers Ep. 4 | Inside Pearl Semiconductors
Ayman Ahmed, Founder and CEO of Pearl Semiconductors, shares his journey in the semiconductor industry, from the challenges of entering the business to the establishment of Pearl Semiconductors as a global player. He discusses the unique technologies and team dynamics that have contributed to the company's success, as well as the management of diverse teams across different countries.
Groundbreakers Ep. 3 | Inside Careem's AI Revolution
Join us on Groundbreakers as Ceren Gokoglu, Chief of Staff, Innovation and AI at Careem, delves into the transformative role of AI in enhancing customer experience and driving operational efficiency. In this episode, Ceren discusses the strategic integration of AI across Careem's services, emphasizing the importance of clear objectives and strong leadership buy-in for successful AI adoption.
GroundBreakers Ep. 2 | Accelerating Gen AI Adoption
Ahmed Mahmoud, founder and CEO of DXwand, shares his journey as a founder and how AI is shaping the future of enterprise. DXwand offers conversational knowledge discovery for enterprises, turning unstructured data into actionable insights.
GroundBreakers Ep.1 | Unlocking Success With Value Creation
Dr. Bilal Baloch discusses the value creation function at Shorooq Partners, a private equity firm. The value creation team goes beyond providing financial support and aims to help companies with talent acquisition, business strategy, capital advisory, and more.