Grace Ashiru
Endure Capital has announced the completion of the first close of its new $50 million fund for early-stage investments in pan-African entrepreneurs.
Endure 21, the second early-stage venture capital fund managed by Endure Capital will focus most of its investments on impact-driven early-stage companies operating in Africa while also applying a selective investment strategy to growth-stage startups worldwide.
Egypt’s Social Fund for Development, the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA), the creators of different prominent regional companies, and British International Investment (BII), a development finance organization and impact investor with headquarters in the United Kingdom, is one of the limited partners in the fund.
BII is happy to collaborate with Endure Capital, a well-established top local fund manager in Egypt’s entrepreneurial environment.
Abhinav Sinha, Managing Director and Head of Technology and Telecoms at British International Investment, said, “I’m excited about how our collaboration on Endure21 will help Egypt’s next generation of visionary business leaders by giving them the money they need to start game-changing businesses that are developing new solutions and promoting fast, inclusive, and productive growth across society.”
Hany Emad, Director and Head of the Central Sector for Funding Small Projects at MSMEDA, stated that MSMEDA is excited to work with Endure Capital to enhance the Egyptian economy by fostering an entrepreneurial environment and empowering young innovators and entrepreneurs.
Additionally, the B2B e-commerce giant MaxAB and Breakfast, the food delivery service that established dark shops in Egypt, are both investments from Endure’s debut fund.
Some of the well-known companies in Endure’s first portfolio are Aspect Biosystems, Tribal Credit, and Boom Supersonic.
The first fund has a 43 percent internal rate of return and a 4.3 times return on investment, ranking it in the top quarter of performing funds for its vintage year.
Endure Capital recruited Mohamed Noweir to become a partner and lead the investment team for the company’s second fund. Now it has worked for firms such as McKinsey & Company, IBM, Rocket Internet, and Careem over his more than 15 years of experience in business and startups.
Several investments have been made through the new fund. Among these are leading the Series A of Brimore, Egypt’s leading social commerce platform; Cassbana, an alternative credit solution (BNPL) for SMEs; and Pylon, a smart infrastructure startup that offers “Smart Metering as a Service” (SMaaS) on a subscription basis to water and electricity providers in developing countries.
In addition, Endure has initiated the Endure Opportunity Fund, which will enlarge the scale of its investments that have shown to be the most profitable in the past.
Endure Capital has become one of the best VC firms in the area since serial entrepreneur Tarek Fahim started it in 2015.
Its first fund was one of the pioneer institutional investors in Careem, which Uber eventually acquired for a total price of $3.1 billion. The transaction is currently the largest departure from the technology sector that has ever been seen in the Middle East.
Endure 21 will invest in 24 firms while maintaining a sector-neutral posture. Endure Capital will set aside half of the funds for additional investments in its portfolio’s top-performing companies.
The company’s founder and chief executive officer, Tarek Fahim, stated that the company’s approach is to offer entrepreneurs patient and long-term support.
He also said that the company is here to help founders and is interested in investing in all stages of their startups’ lives.
