New Delhi, Sept. 29 -- UAE-based venture capital firm BECO Capital, which manages assets worth around $820 million (around Rs 7,279 crore), has announced the final close of its two funds, with an early-stage and growth-stage focus, to support founders from pre-seed to IPO stages in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
With that, BECO has expanded its investment scope to cover the entire cycle of a startup.
The Dubai-headquartered VC, which has backed over 50 startups since its establishment in 2012, has raised $370 million (around Rs 3,284 crore) across two new funds, BECO Fund IV and Growth Fund.
The firm's fourth early-stage vehicle, BECO Fund IV, has a corpus of $120 million, while the Growth Fund has a corpus of $250 million.
"With the close of these two funds, BECO expands its ability to support founders from Pre-Seed to IPO, offering stage-appropriate capital and deep engagement to help build enduring technology companies rooted in the Gulf," the firm said in a press release.
Early-stage Fund IV Although sector-agnostic, Beco Fund IV aims to back companies in proptech, construction tech, retail tech, fintech, and AI-based tech companies in the Middle East and North Africa region, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It will participate in funding rounds between Seed and Series A, and is looking at startups with higher capital efficiency and optimized profit margins.
Backed by Saudi state-owned institutions such as Saudi Venture Capital (SVC) and Riyadh Venture Capital (RVC), BECO Fund IV is led by managing partners Dany Farha, Abdulaziz Shikh Al Sagha, and Yousef Hammad.
"This fund reflects our continued conviction in the early-stage opportunity in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and our belief in the depth of founder talent across the region," said Farha, co-founder and managing partner, BECO Capital.
Founded by Amir Farha and Dany Farha twelve years ago, BECO has so far deployed its Fund IV in at least seven startups, including Saudi-based proptech Ejari, Saudi B2B BNPL platform Mala, UAE-based fintech Flapkap, UAE based proptech Keyper, B2B construction-tech startup BRKZ, tech-focused warehousing startup Sirdab, and Cleargrid.
Growth Fund for Regional Scale Ups
BECO's Growth Fund backs companies from Series B through pre-IPO, led by general partner Amer Alaily.
The fund aims to deploy average investments of $20 million (around Rs 177 crore) into both existing BECO portfolio companies and new opportunities.
"Companies in the Gulf are achieving institutional scale, yet face limited access to dedicated growth capital. This fund gives us the flexibility to partner with the strongest emerging companies and support them through critical scaling phases toward potential exits," said Alaily.
BECO currently manages a portfolio of 35 companies, of which 18 are from its 2021 vintage $211 million Fund III. These include BNPL platform Tabby, UAE-based water tech company Wisewell, foodtech player Supy, and Egyptian fintech Sympl.
It invested in 15 startups from its $100 million 2018 fund, including AI-led fleet management platform Tenderd, cloud kitchen Kitopi, and ride-sharing business Swvl.
It launched its first fund in 2015 with a $50 million size and invested across 16 companies, including ride-hailing app Careem, proptech platform Property Finder, and Fresha.
BECO has managed two unicorn exits so far. Careem was acquired by global ride-hailing giant Uber in 2020 for $3.1 billion. BECO exited Property Finder earlier this year at over $1 billion.
BECO's other limited partners include Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF) and Saudi Arabia's PIF-owned Jada Fund of Funds.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.