Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund announces its first close; the fund will invest in Africa

Cairo Angels, an Egypt-focused angel investor network, has announced the first close of the Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund (CASF), a Delaware-based angel fund that will invest between $100,000 and $250,000 in Middle Eastern and African startups.

Cairo Angels was Egypt’s first formal network of angel investors when it launched, and it has since become one of the most active early-stage investors in startups and high growth businesses in the Middle East and Africa, with 31 investee companies across 18 different sectors.

Its syndicate fund is a micro venture capital fund that invests in pre-Series A and post-seed startups in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa.

CASF negotiates additional co-investment rights for its LPs on a deal-by-deal basis, allowing the fund’s investors to double down on opportunities in addition to the fund’s investment.

With its first close, the fund is ready to deploy capital, and it is already in talks with a number of startups that fit its investment thesis, which seeks sector-agnostic and early-stage scalable platforms with strong sector experience and technical teams.

CASF intentionally focused fundraising for the first close on individual investors and family offices in order to democratize access to this exciting asset class. The only exception was one institutional investor, who has made a soft commitment to invest in and support the fund and will formally join in Q1 of next year.

CASF will now concentrate on completing the final close and meeting its funding goal of $5 million, which it is in advanced talks to achieve.

“This fund is a natural step in the evolution of the Cairo Angels,” said Aly El Shalakany, the CASF’s CEO.

“It augments our already robust deal sourcing platform with faster and more rigorous due diligence and capital deployment capabilities further down the value chain.” This is the new “misplaced middle.”