“UtiQ Ventures” is launching the first VC fund for Tunisia and North Africa

UtiQ Ventures is a newly formed venture capital firm, focused on investing in tech startups in Tunisia and North Africa. The firm’s senior partners, Ghazi Ben Othman and Sami Ben Romdhane, are leveraging their combined 50+ years of professional experience in Silicon Valley to launch a VC fund that is quite unique in the Arab World. This will be the first VC fund with operations both in Tunisia and Silicon Valley, to create a two-way link between the two ecosystems for the benefit of our portfolio companies. This VC fund will also be the first VC fund in the region to focus on “core technologies”, such as AI, Big Data, security, SAAS, Mobile… as opposed to chasing “localized versions of US innovation”. Finally, this will be the first VC fund to focus significantly on Tunisian/North African diaspora founders and executives, who are looking to leverage Tunisia as their offshore development platform.

The Tunisian startup ecosystem is maturing rapidly, with a significant boom in startup creation and ecosystem expansion in the last 24 months. Tunisia is still playing catch-up to other startup ecosystems in the region, specifically Egypt, Jordan and Dubai. However, Tunisia has the opportunity to position itself as the leading “core innovation” hub in the Arab world, leaving the other ecosystems to pursue “regionalized solutions” (e.g. instagram for the Arab world…).

However, Tunisian startups are likely to hit a funding wall in the next 24 months as they mature beyond the availability of local Tunisian capital. That’s where our fund comes in. We intend to take Tunisian startups to the global stage. Our strategic partner in this endeavor is the IFC (International Finance Corp.) who have identified Tunisia as a priority.

So if you are the founder or know the Tunisian founder of a startup (anywhere in the world), get in touch with us for your VC funding. We can be reached at: info @ utiqventures.com“