New Delhi, Sept. 30 -- A UAE-based early-stage venture-capital fund Iliad Partners marked the second close of its $50 million-target (around Rs 444 crore) inaugural investment vehicle, securing "significant" commitments from Greek institutions to back tech startups primarily across Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The Jada Fund of Funds-backed VC firm got on board three Greek banks, namely Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank, facilitating the second close of its Iliad Partners Tech Ventures Fund I. This marks Greek banks' first-ever VC investment in the MENA region.
The second close comes nine months after the first close in December 2024, backed by prominent regional and global investors including Public Investment Fund-owned Jada, the Olayan family, Masarrah Investment Company, MLM Investments, the Constantakopoulos family of Greece, and other major family groups and family offices in the GCC, particularly Saudi Arabia, and Europe.
The Iliad Fund invests in early-stage B2B software startups driving digital transformation in target verticals, including fintech, logistics, and proptech, at the pre-Series A and Series A stages in MENA, with a primary focus on Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It will also allocate a portion of the total investible corpus to Europe, primarily Greece, to support startups expanding into MENA.
"A key pillar of Iliad's strategy is building a two-way venture bridge between MENA and Europe, with Greece as a gateway-enabling innovative Greek startups to access the Gulf's growth markets while in parallel giving MENA startups a pathway into the EU and beyond," the firm said in a press release on Tuesday.
According to the firm, the partnerships with the Greek banks will enable the VC firm to offer its portfolio companies with additional options for equity and debt financing, new pools of later-stage capital, access to large corporate clients, support in entering new markets and geographic expansion in Europe, deep industry know-how and expertise in financial services, and potential exit opportunities, particularly for fintech.
"The second closing of the Fund is a significant milestone in our journey. With commitments from leading European institutional investors alongside our regional LPs, we are doubling down on exceptional founders in MENA, while building a powerful MENA-Europe venture bridge and accessing Greece's promising ecosystem," said Christos Mastoras, founder and managing partner, Iliad Partners.
Iliad's debut fund has already made three investments in regional startups. These include Saudi Arabian logistics startup OTO, Saudi SaaS provider Penny, and B2B fintech startup Qashio.
Other startups that are a part of Iliad Partners' portfolio include truck-aggregator Trukker, insurtech startup OSeven, and last-mile courier service Fetcher.
Founded in 2016 by Mastoras, Iliad Partners focuses on highly scalable, post-revenue technology companies.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.