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ABOUT
Welcome to Nama Ventures!
Nama Ventures is a seed stage venture capital fund focused on fueling innovation in the MENA region, particularly in Saudi Arabia.
Nama Ventures prides itself on being an investment fund committed to nurturing ideas that guide founders to create exceptional companies.
If you are an entrepreneur who is ready to take the entrepreneurial plunge, it would be our privilege to join you on your journey.
Nama Ventures is built upon the fundamental idea of enabling entrepreneurs to succeed. And as founders of Nama, we are thrilled to finally have the platform to implement this idea. Our hope is that entrepreneurs willing to partner with us will see and feel our value-add approach to investing.
We aspire to create a spirit of entrepreneurship all around us, from Riyadh to the whole MENA region. The future awaits.
Let’s take a ride down this road together.
ABOUT
Welcome to Nama Ventures!
Nama Ventures is a seed stage venture capital fund focused on fueling innovation in the MENA region, particularly in Saudi Arabia.
Nama Ventures prides itself on being an investment fund committed to nurturing ideas that guide founders to create exceptional companies.
If you are an entrepreneur who is ready to take the entrepreneurial plunge, it would be our privilege to join you on your journey.
Nama Ventures is built upon the fundamental idea of enabling entrepreneurs to succeed. And as founders of Nama, we are thrilled to finally have the platform to implement this idea. Our hope is that entrepreneurs willing to partner with us will see and feel our value-add approach to investing.
We aspire to create a spirit of entrepreneurship all around us, from Riyadh to the whole MENA region. The future awaits.
Let’s take a ride down this road together.
TEAM
The Nama Ventures team is currently lead by Mohammed Alzubi, a computer engineer, turned technical manager, turned entrepreneur with an entrepreneurial record of four failed startups and one awesome success 🙂
Mohammed then turned to the world of technology investing where he’s made 25 investments, 5 failed miserably 🙂 , most investments are still growing nicely, some had respectable profitable exits, and two have become unicorns, with one becoming a top 5 unicorn globally. Mohammed’s realized personal IRR over the last 10 years is more than 70%.
Mohammed has had the privilege of supporting entrepreneurs across 3 geographies, starting in Silicon Valley where he had most of technical and entrepreneurial experience, and then Europe & the Middle East.
Mohammed takes tremendous joy from working with, and most importantly, learning from the entrepreneurs he engages with.
Mohammed’s technical experience spans development &computer network architecture, he’s an MCSE, MCDBA and has achieved the prestigious CCIE certification. He has worked in both startups, large technology companies , including Cisco, Sun Microsystems, and also large ISPs including Excite@home. He was also lucky to experience being an early employee in a company living the scaling of a starting to an IPO ( IISX IPO)
TEAM
The Nama Ventures team is currently lead by Mohammed Alzubi, a computer engineer, turned technical manager, turned entrepreneur with an entrepreneurial record of four failed startups and one awesome success 🙂
Mohammed then turned to the world of technology investing where he’s made 25 investments, 5 failed miserably 🙂 , most investments are still growing nicely, some had respectable profitable exits, and two have become unicorns, with one becoming a top 5 unicorn globally. Mohammed’s realized personal IRR over the last 10 years is more than 70%.
Mohammed has had the privilege of supporting entrepreneurs across 3 geographies, starting in Silicon Valley where he had most of technical and entrepreneurial experience and then Europe and the Middle East.
Mohammed takes tremendous joy from working with, and most importantly, learning from the entrepreneurs he engages with.
Mohammed’s technical experience spans development & computer network architecture, he’s an MCSE, MCDBA and has achieved the prestigious CCIE certification. He has worked in both startups, large technology companies , including Cisco, Sun Microsystems, and also large ISPs including Excite@home. He was also lucky to experience being an early employee in a company living the scaling of a starting to an IPO ( IISX IPO)
TEAM
The Nama Ventures team is currently lead by Mohammed Alzubi, a computer engineer, turned technical manager, turned entrepreneur with an entrepreneurial record of four failed startups and one awesome success 🙂
Mohammed then turned to the world of technology investing where he’s made 25 investments, 5 failed miserably 🙂 , most investments are still growing nicely, some had respectable profitable exits, and two have become unicorns, with one becoming a top 5 unicorn globally. Mohammed’s realized personal IRR over the last 10 years is more than 70%.
Mohammed has had the privilege of supporting entrepreneurs across 3 geographies, starting in Silicon Valley where he had most of technical and entrepreneurial experience and then Europe and the Middle East
Mohammed takes tremendous joy from working with, and most importantly, learning from the entrepreneurs he engages with.
Mohammed’s technical experience spans development & computer network architecture, he’s an MCSE, MCDBA and has achieved the prestigious CCIE certification. He has worked in both startups, large technology companies , including Cisco, Sun Microsystems, and also large ISPs including Excite@home. He was also lucky to experience being an early employee in a company and living the scaling of a starting to an IPO ( IISX IPO)
INVESTMENTS
Below are some of the early investments the Nama Ventures team have made and lead.
INVESTMENT COMMITTEE
Nama Ventures Fund I will be governed by an investment committee comprised of the following individuals:
Mohammed Alzubi
Nama Ventures
Musaab Hakami
Angel Investor
Majed Al Suwaidi
MD Dubai Media City
ADVISORS
Taher Elgamal
“The father of SSL” , Salesforce , Netscape
Samih Toukan
Maktoob, Souq, Jabbar, etc…
Ronaldo Mouchawar
Mentor, Souq Founder, Amazon MENA
Ebrahim Al-Jassim
Founder HungerStation
Fahad AlSharekh
TECHINVEST, Sakhr, Global Investment House
Majed Al Suwaidi
MD Dubai Media City
Akram Assaf
CTO Bayt.com
Amal Dokhan
CEO GEN Saudi, advisor Babson, World Bank
Antoine Hage
Rakuten, KYUBE, Yellow Pages, SOAJS, etc…
Basil Hashem
Netscape, Yahoo!, Admob, VMware, multiple startups, etc.
Ihsan Jawad
Zawya , Honeybee Ventures, etc…
Terry Kane
Facebook – Head of Marketing META
Ray Milhem
Cisco, Motorola, Techwadi, DSO, etc…
CRITERIA
We have some basic filters that we use to gauge startups. Below are what we look for in a startup
COMPLEMENTARY TEAMS
Notice the word “team.” Creating a solo startup can be awfully lonely. We don’t say no to lone rangers, but we prefer teams.
TOUGH PROBLEMS
We like to see a tough problem presented—and then your solutions to address it. If you choose to go the entrepreneurial route, make sure you are trying to solve at least one hard problem. Hard is good; hard is interesting.
AUDI FOUNDERS FOR SAUDI PROBLEMS
We are Riyadh-based, and we want to engage with you constantly. We are in this together, and we want to work on the solutions KSA needs. Plus, we don’t like long-distance relationships!
TRANSACTIONS
We love seeing a transaction where you are earning revenue selling a product or providing a service. This makes us bigger fans of eCommerce, for instance, than media startups.
FIRST MONEY IN
We want to be right there investing in you after you have your three F’s (friends, family, and founders). We are a seed fund and we want to stay that way. We want to be the first institutional capital that you raise.
DON'T OUTSOURCE YOUR CORE
We don’t want to see just an idea, where people and everything around them are outsourced. We want team members working hard next to each other, delivering awesome solutions. Your team has to have the Doers and the Sellers.
WE LIKE TO LEAD
"Nama" in Arabic is derived from the word meaning "to grow", and we can't help you grow if we are taking a backseat and watching others grow around you! We want to be there helping you grow from a seed to a forest, rolling up our sleeves and pruning you to realize and reach your full growth potential.
PASSION
The entrepreneurial journey is an emotional rollercoaster, some days you'll feel you are on top of the world, other days you'll feel underground. Only passion will carry you thought these times and give you the needed push to persevere.
GOOD PEOPLE
If you are not willing to lend a helping hand along your entrepreneurial journey then you are in the wrong profession. Entrepreneurship is a team sport, there is no place in it for arrogance and meanness. you have to be willing to always learn and always teach.
CRITERIA
We have some basic filters that we use to gauge startups. Below are what we look for in a startup
COMPLEMENTARY TEAMS
Notice the word “team.” Creating a solo startup can be awfully lonely. We don’t say no to lone rangers, but we prefer teams.
TOUGH PROBLEMS
We like to see a tough problem presented—and then your solutions to address it. If you choose to go the entrepreneurial route, make sure you are trying to solve at least one hard problem. Hard is good; hard is interesting.
SAUDI FOUNDERS FOR SAUDI PROBLEMS
We are Riyadh-based, and we want to engage with you constantly. We are in this together, and we want to work on the solutions KSA needs. Plus, we don’t like long-distance relationships!
TRANSACTIONS
We love seeing a transaction where you are earning revenue selling a product or providing a service. This makes us bigger fans of eCommerce, for instance, than media startups.
FIRST MONEY IN
We want to be right there investing in you after you have your three F’s (friends, family, and founders). We are a seed fund and we want to stay that way. We want to be the first institutional capital that you raise.
DON'T OUTSOURCE YOUR CORE
We don’t want to see just an idea, where people and everything around them are outsourced. We want team members working hard next to each other, delivering awesome solutions. Your team has to have the Doers and the Sellers.
WE LIKE TO LEAD
"Nama" in Arabic is derived from the word meaning "to grow", and we can't help you grow if we are taking a backseat and watching others grow around you! We want to be there helping you grow from a seed to a forest, rolling up our sleeves and pruning you to realize and reach your full growth potential.
PASSION
The entrepreneurial journey is an emotional rollercoaster, some days you'll feel you are on top of the world, other days you'll feel underground. Only passion will carry you thought these times and give you the needed push to persevere.
GOOD PEOPLE
If you are not willing to lend a helping hand along your entrepreneurial journey then you are in the wrong profession. Entrepreneurship is a team sport, there is no place in it for arrogance and meanness. you have to be willing to always learn and always teach.
CONTACT
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us using the form below and we’ll make sure to respond in a timely fashion.
If you are startup looking to submit your company for investment consideration then please click on the submit link in the upper menu
CONTACT
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us using the form below and we’ll make sure to respond in a timely fashion.
If you are startup looking to submit your company for investment consideration then please click on the submit link in the upper menu
CONTACT
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us using the form below and we’ll make sure to respond in a timely fashion.
If you are startup looking to submit your company for investment consideration then please click on the submit link in the upper menu