TUNISIA – Flat6Labs, a regional seed and early-stage venture capital firm, has announced the second closing of its Tunisia-based Anava Seed Fund (ASF), increasing its impact through world-class startup programs across the North African markets from US$3 million to US$10 million.
This comes after the second closing of the Egypt-based Flat6Labs Accelerator Company fund (FAC) in May 2021, which raised US$13 million to promote Egyptian early-stage entrepreneurs.
The Anava Seed Fund was established in 2017 in collaboration with the Tunisian American Enterprise Fund, BIAT Bank, and Meninx Holding with the goal of investing in 75 Tunisian early-stage companies over the course of five years.
“We’re very excited about our latest second close for the Tunisia-based Anava Seed Fund, we believe that the North African markets hold untapped potential and unique business opportunities,” Ramez El-Serafy, CEO at Flat6Labs, said.
“I’m happy to see that more and more investors are sharing our enthusiasm towards this rapidly growing market by increasing their commitments in both FAC Egypt Fund and Anava Seed Fund. We look forward to expanding our impact even further in North Africa with the support of our investors and partners.”
Over the previous four years, the Anava Seed Fund has successfully invested in over 50 Tunisian entrepreneurs through seed, follow-on, and pre-series A rounds, covering 22 various industries such as Fintech, Education, Agri-tech, Delivery Services, Retail-Tech, Health-Tech, and Aeronautics.
“We are very proud of our investment in the Anava Seed Fund as we have closely followed their progress and are more than convinced that Tunisia has talented entrepreneurs working on promising startups,” said Wael Amin, Managing Partner at Sawari Ventures.
More than 500 well-paying positions have been created as a result of these enterprises, with women accounting for 61% of the workforce.
Through its Cairo and Tunis Seed funds, Flat6Labs has taught over 440 entrepreneurs and invested in 130 firms for a total of US$10.5 million. It’s also worth noting that Flat6Labs’ North African startups have raised more than US$37 million in follow-on funding.
With a US$1.6 million investment, Sawari Ventures is the most recent addition to the Anava Seed Fund’s investor list.