Jordan-based venture capital (VC) firm Propeller, has announced the first close of its second fund which will focus on pre-Seed and Seed-stage startups in Jordan and the wider Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. The fund is sector agnostic but will favour investments in software and technology startups. Propeller aims to reach a final close of $15 million this year. 

Propeller Ventures II's limited partners include the Innovative Start-ups and SMEs Fund or ISSF, Capital Bank of Jordan, BeyondCapital, and several individual investors including startup founders and an ex-Careemer. 

"We seek founders who are obsessed about their customers and follow their lead. Our experience in building products and teams gives us the strength to empower them to satisfy those customers," said Tambi Jalouqa, managing partner at Propeller.

Propeller was founded by Jalouqa and Zaid Al-Farekh in 2017 with the backing of early-investor and partner AbdulMajeed Shoman and others. Since then the VC has invested in 13 early-stage startups including Arabot, POSRocket and Nestrom.

Propeller says it is “betting hard on the builders of our region” and are doing so through several initiatives to enrich and advance the software community — that is the software engineers, product managers, designers, and anyone building tech products.

"We are confident that there are founders in the region who are itching to build products for global consumers, and we want to be there to back them," said Jalouqa.

Laith Al-Qassem, CEO at ISSF said: “Propeller provides startups they invest in with real-world and practical mentoring, enabling investee companies to more successfully navigate the chaotic waters of starting and growing successful businesses. We see Propeller’s proactive coaching as a great added value particularly since the principals of Propeller are themselves successful entrepreneurs who are intimately familiar with challenges of establishing and growing successful businesses.”