We’ve been cooking this project for some time and now that there’s an office, a website, a legal structure, partners ready to get us into deals and a highly capable team in place… it’s time to let the cat out of the bag.

Say Hi to Revenya Capital. A revenue-based funding firm from the region, for the region.

Revenya Capital, an RBF firm for your startup needs

Nearly a decade ago, Ahmad Takatkah used to be an integral part of Arzan VC team. Then he left to the US, worked for Carta for 3 years, then KingsCrowd (another fintech), then KC Capital. As a founder, Ahmad founded 3 startups and he hosts a couple of podcasts. He has an immense passion for data and, most importantly, he is back in the Middle East.

So here’s what we have cooked together.

Earlier this year, Arzan VC forged a strategic partnership with Ahmad to launch Revenya Capital, a groundbreaking revenue-based financing (RBF) firm focused on empowering tech startups in the MENA region.

Building on a decade of VC experience, Arzan VC is branching out to a relatively niche and nascent field in the region: RBF.

And the reason is simple: While leveraging advanced AI and machine learning technologies, Revenya Capital was founded to fill the growing demand for non-dilutive financing options in the region.

Perhaps you’re not so familiar with RBF yet. Let me do a quick intro.

What is RBF?
Revenue-based financing is an essential funding model for startups that prefer non-dilutive capital to fuel their growth without sacrificing equity.

Why is RBF from Revenya Capital so attractive for startups?
No dilution.
No warrants.
No conversions.
No personal guarantees.
No pitch decks.
No data rooms.
No business plans.
No financial projections.

How can Revenya Capital support your startup?

You can use this short-term financing for various needs such as marketing, inventory, events, equipment and seasonal requirements.

If you are a high-growth startups with predictable revenues, Revenya Capital may offer you short-term loans from 3 to 9 months, ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 with a fixed monthly fee of 1.5%-2.5% and repayment rates of 5%-20% of monthly revenue.

Sounds just like what your startup needs right now? Reply to this email and I will link you up with Ahmad.

Merit on stage at FII8

Swvl >>> Riyadh.

Zid’s bold moves

Nearpay got their MPoC certification

Subsbase + Moyasar

DevOps Graduate Program at Gameball

• Head of Strategy at Hala (Riyadh)
• Marketing Manager at Nearpay (Riyadh)
• EHS Manager at Khazenly (Cairo)
• Sales Manager (SaaS & PaaS) at Cartlow (Dubai)
• Senior Sales Executive at TruKKer (Riyadh)
• Marketing Assistant at Citron (Dubai)

See you next week at #MoneyTech Kuwait.
I’ll be speaking on the first panel “The 100 Dollar Question: Where Would You Deploy 100 Dollars Today?”

Hasan

If you’re a fund manager, your What’s next? sounds like “How can I complete the fund cycle?”.

If you’re a startup founder who has taken his/her startup through a good amount of funding rounds, it sounds more like “If I want my company to go public in the future, what are my options in the region?”.

And if you’re like me, you’d also be thinking “Which startups could go public in the next few years and how can we help them get there?”

These 18 startups could go public in the next few years

Over the last 3 years, we’ve seen the number of exits in the region shrink in front of our eyes. 2022 witnessed at least 81 exits of MENA-based startups, 2023 witnessed at least 45 (most of which were in UAE, followed by KSA), but overall it was almost half less than in 2022. And 2024, so far, stands somewhere at 25, a third of which were fintech exits. The overall trend is downwards since the Covid peak yet the market consolidation goes on.

Not enough exits has many negative implications including:
1. VCs who cannot generate returns for their LPs
2. LPs who hesitate on investing in VC funds
3. VCs who hesitate on new investments

Tomorrow I’ll be at SuperReturn in Dubai moderating a panel on “VC exits: creating, not waiting” with 3 gentlemen: Pascal Thomys (Target Global; Investor Relations & Fundraising), Ashish Fafadia (Blume Ventures; Partner) and Venkatesh Peddi (Chiratae Ventures; Managing Director & Partner). (P.S. Our diversity will make the 30-min session pretty insightful.)

But today I want to focus on one kind of exits in specific: IPOs.

I wrote above that exits are down but I also believe that GCC is about to witness more tech IPOs in the next few years – and the region must get ready for them. In KSA itself, as per SVC, more than 13 Saudi startups are preparing to go public in the coming two years.

The article didn’t mention which startups, so I put together a list of 18 potential tech IPOs from our region based on parameters such as maturity level, recent fundraising history and participation in programs like Saudi Unicorns Program (in fact about half of the companies). I focused solely on KSA and UAE startups.

Diverse industries and of course multiple fintechs but there’s also logistics, retail SaaS, food delivery and agritech.

So we can safely assume that there are quite a few good candidates for near-future tech IPOs. The bigger question though is: In practice, where in the region can they go public? Only these 3 options come to my mind: KSA, Kuwait and UAE.

KSA has witnessed 2 startup IPOs:
1. Jahez listed on Nomu in 2022, but in July 2024 they applied for a move to Tadawul (TASI), the primary Saudi stock exchange. Its share price dropped by -57.46% since the listing (data as of October 9).
2. Rasan went public on Tadawul in June 2024 and its $224m IPO was oversubscribed 129x. Its share price grew by 24.74% since the listing (data as of October 9).

Kuwait hasn’t witnessed any startup IPOs yet… but Boursa Kuwait’s historical track record speaks for itself and I can easily imagine startups from the region making successful debuts on Boursa.

And although UAE did rake $6.07 billion from 8 IPOs in 2023, we keep hearing how their tough IPO rules deter startups from listing. Few weeks ago I took part in a closed meeting with Her Excellency Alia Abdulla Almazrouei, UAE’s Minister of Entrepreneurship. Theme: entrepreneurial environment in the country. I pitched an idea of one unified stock market for all of GCC, which is a long term vision but, if executed right, it could help the GCC startup ecosystem while increasing exits out of the region.

Your thoughts?

P.S. Our target is to invest in 3 more early-stage startups before the end of this year… awaiting your decks.

Best Recognition & Reward Program Agency award goes to Merit

2 awards for Subsbase

Swvl secured $2.6 million in Saudi contracts

Taker + Alinma Pay

FittiCoin + MenaME-Plus+

Taker launches aggregation Service APIs for restaurants

Cartlow integrates crypto payments

+1 photo with Yara Burgan, Co-founder of Elevatus (a Fund II company we exited in 2020). Catching up with you was like time-traveling!

• Head of Cybersecurity at Hala (Riyadh)
• Finance Executive at TLC (Dubai)/span>
• Regional Counsel at TruKKer (Cairo)
• Senior Frontend Engineer (Angular) at Money Fellows (Cairo)
• Software Quality Engineer (POS) at Hala (Cairo)

See you this week at SuperReturn Middle East.

Also – Asia will be at Gitex tomorrow.

Hasan