• Abu Dhabi and Beirut-based VC BY Venture Partners has closed its second fund, BY Fund II, valued at $50 million to be invested in early-stage startups globally to bridge the Mena region with the rest of the world. 
• Founded in 2015 by Abdallah Yafi, Ghaith Yafi, and Rami Jisr, BY Venture Partners has invested in several tech companies in Mena including, Seez, Nymcard, Toters, and Myki, as well as international companies such as the UK's Onfido, and Threads, and US-bases Thrive Market. 
• Prior to closing the fund, the BY team also announced new investments in several regional and global startups, including Egypt-based Flextock Huspy and Arrow Labs in the UAE as well as US-based Garten and UK-based Pollen, and Laced.

Press release:

Abu Dhabi and Beirut-based Venture Capital firm BY Venture Partners has announced the closing of its 2nd fund – BY Fund II. The fund is valued at $50 million in size and will be investing in early-stage opportunities globally with a thesis to bridge the Mena region with global markets. 

BY Venture Partners was founded in 2015 by Abdallah Yafi, Ghaith Yafi, and Rami Jisr and is today recognised as one of Mena’s leading venture capital firms with a truly global network. The BY team has a history of success as both investors and founders and a ton of experience across the landscape of entrepreneurship, M&A/exits, and ecosystem development. For the past six years, BY has been investing in some of the most promising tech companies in Mena including, Seez, Nymcard, Toters, and Myki to name a few as well as category-defining international companies such as Onfido (UK), Threads (UK), and Thrive Market (US). 

Our latest Q3 2021 Mena Venture Investment Report recorded a record-high number of investors backing Mena-based startups. Following a 4-year consecutive growth of active investors in the ecosystem, the number of global and local investors backing MENA-based startups grew by 40 per cent in 2021 YTD compared to 2018. Most interestingly, as local VCs like Flat6Labs, BY Venture Partners, and Global Ventures lead major rounds across Emerging Venture Markets, the 11 per cent increase of foreign investment share in the Mena market brings forward good signs for an active future deal flow.

BY Fund II is mobilising capital from a strong group of private and institutional investors from all over the region, including two of the most well-recognised institutions, Mubadala Investment Company (UAE) and Al Waha Fund of Funds (Bahrain), as well as leading regional Family Offices/investment firms Tamar Capital (Lebanon) and MMK Capital (UAE), as anchor LPs. BY has also partnered with a selective pool of leading regional operators across various industries, such as Retail, FMCG, Hospitality, Real Estate, F&B, and Media. For many of BY’s LPs, this investment represents their first exposure to a Mena Venture fund and their first investment into the Venture Capital asset class. 

In light of their latest closing, Managing Partner at BY Ghaith Yafi highlighted “we are thrilled to announce the closing of our second fund, BY Fund II, and are immensely grateful and proud to be joining forces with extremely high-calibre investors from all over the region with whom we share our common core values of integrity, innovation, and a passion for honest disruption through technology. Our LPs play a big role and will be strong partners to us across their respective geographies and industries. By building strategic partnerships with leading groups and operators across Mena, we are able to strengthen our position as a key contributor to linking our region to Global Markets.”

BY has built its brand around being one of the most founder-centric venture platforms in the Mena region. Its value proposition revolves around supporting founders and companies it invests in through a hands-on and structured value creation approach providing value to portfolio companies through resources, mentorship, and an extensive global network of connections. Prior to closing the fund, the BY team also announced new investments in several promising startups, including Flextock (Egypt), Huspy (UAE), and Arrow Labs (UAE) in Mena, as well as Garten (US), Pollen (UK) and Laced (UK), internationally and is set to reveal further investments in the coming weeks. 

Abdallah Yafi, Managing Partner, at BY concluded, "At BY, we put the founders we back at the centre of all our efforts. Being former entrepreneurs ourselves, we are bringing to the table a strong team culture and infrastructure that supports founder growth. Through our unique access and strong global network of our team, our goal is to help the most promising Mena startups go global and some of the best international technology companies expand to our region."