Investing in potential
We recognize potential when we see it, and we won’t hesitate to offer you our resources, funding and expertise so that your journey becomes a seamless transition
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Your can find our branding assets in our Press kit
We back exceptional founders in MENA
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"We started Lean with the aim of enabling the next generation of financial innovation in the Middle East"
Hisham Al-Falih , Co-Founder & CEO
"Everyone has the right to get credit instantly"
Hussam Arab , Co-founder & CEO
“As the world is transforming, we gain a lot of speed as we offer our financial services digitally”
Dr. Mohammed Alhussein , Co-founder & CEO
"We enable e-commerce merchants to set up, maintain, and increase sales without fees or commissions"
Nawaf Hareeri , CEO
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We back exceptional founders in MENA
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Lean
"We started Lean with the aim of enabling the next generation of finan..."
Hisham Al-Falih
Tabby
"Everyone has the right to get credit instantly"
Hussam Arab
Mozn
“As the world is transforming, we gain a lot of speed as we offer our ..."
Dr. Mohammed Alhussein
Salla
"We enable e-commerce merchants to set up, maintain, and increase sale..."
Nawaf Hareeri
Why Raed Ventures?
A catalyst for growth in the MENA region
Strategic Partnerships
We help startups in building and executing their visions through collaborations with our portfolio companies and sister companies, leveraging their knowledge and expertise
Access to new markets
We open up doors for MENA startups and provide them with the opportunity to work in the Saudi & GCC markets
Access to RAEDPlus
RaedPlus is our new signature program that brings added value to our entrepreneurs, matching them with word-class experts, helping them recruit talents and granting them access to free services
Meet the team
Our team
Raed is passionate, driven and resilient. We greatly believe in the power of human potential
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Omar Almajdouie
Founding Partner
Saed Nashef
Founding Partner
Talal Alasmari
Founding Partner
Wael Nafee
General Partner
Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud
Venture Partner
Abdulrahman Alfozan
Venture Partner
Husain Fekri
Head of Investor Relations
Yomna Abousamra
Senior Associate
Uday Singh
Investment Associate
Waleed Abdelshafy
Investment Associate
Abdulrahman Alhashim
Investment Associate
Arsalan Yousuf
Head of Finance & Operations
Mohit Goyal
Finance Manager
Aashish Dhaawan
Head of Compliance & Risk
Naveed Ahmed
Finance Associate
Ali Alkhars
Financial Analyst
Hussien Abdulgader
Senior Business Support Associate
Maha Adel
Executive Assistant
Yasmina Benbouazza
Executive Assistant
Seth Levine
Advisor
Abdulla Elyas
Advisor
Tino Waked
Advisor
Want to know more?
News
We share with you the latest investment rounds, funding events, partnerships and more
Founding Partner
Omar Almajdouie
Omar brings over two decades’ experience in senior leadership roles and over a decade in venture capital investing. As one of the region’s earliest institutional backers, he has supported many of today’s standout technology companies long before they reached scale. Before establishing Raed, Omar served as CEO of Almajdouie Manufacturing LLC. He currently sits on the boards of several leading startups and institutions, including Majd Investments, Lean Technologies, Mozn, and the Middle East Venture Capital Association.
Founding Partner
Saed Nashef
Saed brings over two decades’ experience in VC investing. He is the Co-founder of Sadara Ventures, one of the first venture capital firms in the region, and the first to launch a fund established in Palestine 2011. Sadara’s investors include Cisco, EIB, Soros, and Google.org among other top-tier investors. Before Sadara, Saed founded two companies, and was a key team member in a third. Saed started his software engineering career at Microsoft in 1994. In 2011, He became the first Kauffman Fellow in the Arab Middle East, and received the Class 14 Jeff Timmons Memorial Award in recognition of his accomplishments.
Founding Partner
Talal Alasmari
Talal brings over 15 years of hands-on experience in the startup ecosystem. As a Founding Partner at Raed Ventures, he has played a key role in driving growth and scaling breakthrough tech companies, across the MENA region. A software engineer by education, Talal co-founded several startups before establishing Raed, including Tarmeez, Lamma, and Modha, the last of which was acquired by a Saudi family office in 2014. His entrepreneurial background gives him a unique lens when working with founders, blending real operational grit with strategic investment insight. Talal currently represents Raed on the boards and committees of Wafeq and Rabbit.
General Partner
Wael Nafee
Wael brings over two decades of hands-on experience in product building and design. He graduated as a Computer Engineer, then worked as a Software Engineer and VP of Product, most recently at Careem. Wael is an entrepreneur who has founded startups in the US and MENA, one of which was the first ever MENA startup to join Y Combinator’s accelerator program. As an early joiner of Careem, he experienced its scaling journey from an operator’s lens during the company’s scale-up phase ahead of Uber’s acquisition, an experience founders find invaluable when navigating their own growth journeys.
Venture Partner
Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud
Khalid brings extensive experience and a world class network in investment and startup financing. At Raed, he focuses on identifying high-potential investment opportunities and supporting founders in scaling their businesses. Khalid is also the Co-Founder and Chairman of ClearGrid, an AI-powered collections infrastructure startup. He also serves as Managing Director and Vice Chairman of East40 Holding, a private institutional family office established in 2025.
Venture Partner
Abdulrahman Alfozan
Abdulrahman is a seasoned technology professional with deep experience in startups, entrepreneurship, and scaling tech companies. He currently serves as Engineering Lead at OpenAI, with a focus on AI Agents and the data platform. Previously, Abdulrahman was a Founding Engineer at Nash (an a16z portfolio company) and spent five years at Meta (Facebook) as a Senior Engineer, focusing on machine learning and data platforms. His earlier experience includes roles at Microsoft and SAP. Abdulrahman holds a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT.
Head of Investor Relations
Husain Fekri
Husain leads investor engagement and fundraising at Raed Ventures. He also drives portfolio value creation through targeted strategic connections. Husain’s experience spans London, Bahrain, and Riyadh, with a network of institutional investors, family offices, and financial institutions across the GCC. Prior to joining Raed, he built and led GIB Asset Management’s (London) Middle East business development strategy across Saudi, Bahrain, UAE, and Oman. Husain holds a Bachelor's degree from Leeds University and a Master’s from LSE.
Senior Associate
Yomna Abousamra
Yomna is responsible for investment analysis, strategy, and market research at Raed Ventures. She brings over nine years of experience in financial analysis and modeling. An Uber alumna, she previously worked in Uber’s EMEA financial planning team. Before joining Uber, she held finance roles at GE and CIB Egypt. Yomna graduated with Distinction from the American University in Cairo (AUC), earning a double major in Business Administration and Economics, and received multiple academic accolades. She has also passed Level I of the CFA program.
Investment Associate
Uday Singh
Uday is an Investment Associate with over six years of experience in commercial due diligence and financial analysis. Before joining Raed Ventures, he worked with a leading UAE-based family office, managing its technology investment portfolio. He previously held roles at the F&B startup Zomato in the Middle East and at a leading management consulting firm in the UAE. Uday has completed all three levels of the CFA Program and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University, UK.
Investment Associate
Waleed Abdelshafy
Waleed is active in Raed’s investment efforts and partners with founders across the portfolio to drive value-creation initiatives. He brings over 12 years of business-building experience across sales, brand management, finance, and general management. His background spans multinationals, tech startups, and SMEs, with deep exposure to e-commerce, PropTech, FMCG, and retail, including roles at PwC, Unilever, Homzmart, and Livspace.
Investment Associate
Abdulrahman Alhashim
Abdulrahman is an Investment Associate with over five years’ experience in venture capital, investor relations, and financial services. Before joining Raed, he led Investor Relations at Rewaa, supporting fundraising, and managing investor communications. He previously held roles at Endeavor Saudi Arabia, Razeen Capital, and co-founded the fintech startup Market Beta. Abdulrahman began his venture career as an intern at Impact46. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University and has passed Level I of the CFA program.
Head of Finance & Operations
Arsalan Yousuf
Arsalan leads Finance and Operations at Raed. His career spans over a decade across financial management, auditing, business partnering, financial reporting, and corporate compliance. Prior to joining Raed in 2019, Arsalan served as Senior Financial Reporting Manager at Rocket Internet. He began his career at Deloitte in the assurance and advisory practice. Arsalan is a Chartered Accountant (ACA) with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and holds a BSc in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University. He also completed executive programs with Harvard Business School and NYU Stern and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Finance Manager
Mohit Goyal
Mohit is a Chartered Accountant with over 10 years of experience in strategic finance, FP&A, reporting, and auditing, with a focus on startups in e-commerce and edtech. Mohit brings a strong track record in aligning financial strategies with business objectives. Before joining Raed, he served as Finance Manager at Crescent Enterprises, where he supported financial operations for early-stage ventures. He began his career in audit and is recognized for his data-driven and collaborative approach to driving financial performance.
Head of Compliance & Risk
Aashish Dhaawan
Aashish brings over 17 years of experience in regulatory compliance, enterprise and operational risk, and financial crime prevention. He currently leads the Compliance and Risk function at Raed, where he is responsible for regulatory readiness, governance and AML/CFT. Prior to joining Raed, Aashish held senior risk and compliance roles at Pluto, Lnddo, and Fintree Finance. He also spent over five years at Deem Finance, where he led credit operations, underwriting, and treasury risk functions. Aashish holds a postgraduate degree in Business Administration and is a Certified Regulatory Compliance Specialist (CRC).
Finance Associate
Naveed Ahmed
Naveed is a Chartered Accountant with over seven years’ experience spanning financial management, auditing, taxation, financial reporting, and corporate compliance. Before joining Raed Ventures, he served as a Manager at Tayyab & Co. Chartered Accountants, where he led audits and advisory projects across multiple industries. Throughout his career, Naveed has developed deep expertise in financial controls, compliance frameworks, and reporting standards. He is recognized for his meticulous attention to detail and his ability to translate complex financial insights into actionable business decisions.
Financial Analyst
Ali Alkhars
Ali Alkhars is a Financial Analyst with five years of international experience in finance and accounting. He began his career as a Credit Analyst while studying at the International Black Sea University in Tbilisi, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Finance. He later managed construction budgets at Qmam Construction and Innovest Properties. Ali participated in the MISKxDraper program in San Francisco, then joined LATIS, a PIF subsidiary, as Interim Treasury Manager and Accounts Payable Expert. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance from the International Black Sea University and is certified in Financial Modeling and Valuation (FMVA).
Senior Business Support Associate
Hussien Abdulgader
Hussien plays a key role in supporting the firm’s operations and strategic initiatives. He was part of the founding team at Raed Ventures. He began his career at Almajdouie Group before transitioning to Raed as a Business Support Associate. Hussien has over a decade of experience in business development and administration. He holds a BSc in Translation and an MBA from OUM University.
Executive Assistant
Maha Adel
Maha is an Executive Assistant at Raed Ventures. She brings over 12 years of experience across customer service, quality management, and administration. Before joining Raed, she worked at Raz and Associate.sa, and previously held roles at leading global companies including Uber, Pearson, Expedia.ca, and Cisco. Maha holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Ain Shams University, majoring in French.
Executive Assistant
Yasmina Benbouazza
Yasmina is an Executive Assistant at Raed Ventures. She brings diverse experience in media, copywriting, sales, and back-office operations. She is recognised for her clear communication, reliability, and strong cross-cultural skills.
Advisor
Seth Levine
Seth Levine is a board member, advisor and mentor to a number of global VCs and companies. He is the co-founder of US-based Foundry Group which focuses on early-stage tech investments, as well as identifying and supporting the next generation of VCs. In addition to his work at Foundry, Seth is active in the global entrepreneurial ecosystem as a founding board member of The Unreasonable Institute, and the Palestinian-focused VC Sadara. He is also advisor to the Nairobi-based Ingressive Capital and a number of other VCs.
Advisor
Abdulla Elyas
Abdulla Elyas is an exceptionally gifted entrepreneur and advisor. He joined Careem as cofounder after the ride-hailing app acquired his startup, home delivery service Enwani. A Saudi national born and raised in Germany, Abdulla was responsible for the introduction of cash payments to the Careem service in Saudi Arabia and has worked to make Careem the first regulated car-hailing service in the Middle East. In 2016, he was appointed to join the Saudi Arabian Small and Medium Enterprise Authority as a board member.
Advisor
Tino Waked
Abdellatif (Tino) Waked is the Regional General Manager at Uber Middle East, Africa, Pakistan &Turkey. In his role he leads Uber’s end-to-end business in the region across 16 countries ranging from policy, tax, operations and business development. Prior to that he was the GM for Middle East & North Africa and before that GM for Egypt where he worked on passing the first ridesharing regulations, launched an extensive product portfolio ranging from Uber Moto to Bus and scaled Cairo to become the fastest growing city for Uber in Middle East, Africa, and Europe. He launched Uber in Cairo in 2014 where he initially joined as Head of Operations in Egypt.
Founding Partner
Omar Almajdouie
Omar brings over two decades’ experience in senior leadership roles and over a decade in venture capital investing. As one of the region’s earliest institutional backers, he has supported many of today’s standout technology companies long before they reached scale. Before establishing Raed, Omar served as CEO of Almajdouie Manufacturing LLC. He currently sits on the boards of several leading startups and institutions, including Majd Investments, Lean Technologies, Mozn, and the Middle East Venture Capital Association.
Founding Partner
Saed Nashef
Saed brings over two decades’ experience in VC investing. He is the Co-founder of Sadara Ventures, one of the first venture capital firms in the region, and the first to launch a fund established in Palestine 2011. Sadara’s investors include Cisco, EIB, Soros, and Google.org among other top-tier investors. Before Sadara, Saed founded two companies, and was a key team member in a third. Saed started his software engineering career at Microsoft in 1994. In 2011, He became the first Kauffman Fellow in the Arab Middle East, and received the Class 14 Jeff Timmons Memorial Award in recognition of his accomplishments.
Founding Partner
Talal Alasmari
Talal brings over 15 years of hands-on experience in the startup ecosystem. As a Founding Partner at Raed Ventures, he has played a key role in driving growth and scaling breakthrough tech companies, across the MENA region. A software engineer by education, Talal co-founded several startups before establishing Raed, including Tarmeez, Lamma, and Modha, the last of which was acquired by a Saudi family office in 2014. His entrepreneurial background gives him a unique lens when working with founders, blending real operational grit with strategic investment insight. Talal currently represents Raed on the boards and committees of Wafeq and Rabbit.
General Partner
Wael Nafee
Wael brings over two decades of hands-on experience in product building and design. He graduated as a Computer Engineer, then worked as a Software Engineer and VP of Product, most recently at Careem. Wael is an entrepreneur who has founded startups in the US and MENA, one of which was the first ever MENA startup to join Y Combinator’s accelerator program. As an early joiner of Careem, he experienced its scaling journey from an operator’s lens during the company’s scale-up phase ahead of Uber’s acquisition, an experience founders find invaluable when navigating their own growth journeys.
Venture Partner
Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud
Khalid brings extensive experience and a world class network in investment and startup financing. At Raed, he focuses on identifying high-potential investment opportunities and supporting founders in scaling their businesses. Khalid is also the Co-Founder and Chairman of ClearGrid, an AI-powered collections infrastructure startup. He also serves as Managing Director and Vice Chairman of East40 Holding, a private institutional family office established in 2025.
Venture Partner
Abdulrahman Alfozan
Abdulrahman is a seasoned technology professional with deep experience in startups, entrepreneurship, and scaling tech companies. He currently serves as Engineering Lead at OpenAI, with a focus on AI Agents and the data platform. Previously, Abdulrahman was a Founding Engineer at Nash (an a16z portfolio company) and spent five years at Meta (Facebook) as a Senior Engineer, focusing on machine learning and data platforms. His earlier experience includes roles at Microsoft and SAP. Abdulrahman holds a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT.
Head of Investor Relations
Husain Fekri
Husain leads investor engagement and fundraising at Raed Ventures. He also drives portfolio value creation through targeted strategic connections. Husain’s experience spans London, Bahrain, and Riyadh, with a network of institutional investors, family offices, and financial institutions across the GCC. Prior to joining Raed, he built and led GIB Asset Management’s (London) Middle East business development strategy across Saudi, Bahrain, UAE, and Oman. Husain holds a Bachelor's degree from Leeds University and a Master’s from LSE.
Senior Associate
Yomna Abousamra
Yomna is responsible for investment analysis, strategy, and market research at Raed Ventures. She brings over nine years of experience in financial analysis and modeling. An Uber alumna, she previously worked in Uber’s EMEA financial planning team. Before joining Uber, she held finance roles at GE and CIB Egypt. Yomna graduated with Distinction from the American University in Cairo (AUC), earning a double major in Business Administration and Economics, and received multiple academic accolades. She has also passed Level I of the CFA program.
Investment Associate
Uday Singh
Uday is an Investment Associate with over six years of experience in commercial due diligence and financial analysis. Before joining Raed Ventures, he worked with a leading UAE-based family office, managing its technology investment portfolio. He previously held roles at the F&B startup Zomato in the Middle East and at a leading management consulting firm in the UAE. Uday has completed all three levels of the CFA Program and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University, UK.
Investment Associate
Waleed Abdelshafy
Waleed is active in Raed’s investment efforts and partners with founders across the portfolio to drive value-creation initiatives. He brings over 12 years of business-building experience across sales, brand management, finance, and general management. His background spans multinationals, tech startups, and SMEs, with deep exposure to e-commerce, PropTech, FMCG, and retail, including roles at PwC, Unilever, Homzmart, and Livspace.
Investment Associate
Abdulrahman Alhashim
Abdulrahman is an Investment Associate with over five years’ experience in venture capital, investor relations, and financial services. Before joining Raed, he led Investor Relations at Rewaa, supporting fundraising, and managing investor communications. He previously held roles at Endeavor Saudi Arabia, Razeen Capital, and co-founded the fintech startup Market Beta. Abdulrahman began his venture career as an intern at Impact46. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University and has passed Level I of the CFA program.
Head of Finance & Operations
Arsalan Yousuf
Arsalan leads Finance and Operations at Raed. His career spans over a decade across financial management, auditing, business partnering, financial reporting, and corporate compliance. Prior to joining Raed in 2019, Arsalan served as Senior Financial Reporting Manager at Rocket Internet. He began his career at Deloitte in the assurance and advisory practice. Arsalan is a Chartered Accountant (ACA) with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and holds a BSc in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University. He also completed executive programs with Harvard Business School and NYU Stern and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Finance Manager
Mohit Goyal
Mohit is a Chartered Accountant with over 10 years of experience in strategic finance, FP&A, reporting, and auditing, with a focus on startups in e-commerce and edtech. Mohit brings a strong track record in aligning financial strategies with business objectives. Before joining Raed, he served as Finance Manager at Crescent Enterprises, where he supported financial operations for early-stage ventures. He began his career in audit and is recognized for his data-driven and collaborative approach to driving financial performance.
Head of Compliance & Risk
Aashish Dhaawan
Aashish brings over 17 years of experience in regulatory compliance, enterprise and operational risk, and financial crime prevention. He currently leads the Compliance and Risk function at Raed, where he is responsible for regulatory readiness, governance and AML/CFT. Prior to joining Raed, Aashish held senior risk and compliance roles at Pluto, Lnddo, and Fintree Finance. He also spent over five years at Deem Finance, where he led credit operations, underwriting, and treasury risk functions. Aashish holds a postgraduate degree in Business Administration and is a Certified Regulatory Compliance Specialist (CRC).
Finance Associate
Naveed Ahmed
Naveed is a Chartered Accountant with over seven years’ experience spanning financial management, auditing, taxation, financial reporting, and corporate compliance. Before joining Raed Ventures, he served as a Manager at Tayyab & Co. Chartered Accountants, where he led audits and advisory projects across multiple industries. Throughout his career, Naveed has developed deep expertise in financial controls, compliance frameworks, and reporting standards. He is recognized for his meticulous attention to detail and his ability to translate complex financial insights into actionable business decisions.
Financial Analyst
Ali Alkhars
Ali Alkhars is a Financial Analyst with five years of international experience in finance and accounting. He began his career as a Credit Analyst while studying at the International Black Sea University in Tbilisi, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Finance. He later managed construction budgets at Qmam Construction and Innovest Properties. Ali participated in the MISKxDraper program in San Francisco, then joined LATIS, a PIF subsidiary, as Interim Treasury Manager and Accounts Payable Expert. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance from the International Black Sea University and is certified in Financial Modeling and Valuation (FMVA).
Senior Business Support Associate
Hussien Abdulgader
Hussien plays a key role in supporting the firm’s operations and strategic initiatives. He was part of the founding team at Raed Ventures. He began his career at Almajdouie Group before transitioning to Raed as a Business Support Associate. Hussien has over a decade of experience in business development and administration. He holds a BSc in Translation and an MBA from OUM University.
Executive Assistant
Maha Adel
Maha is an Executive Assistant at Raed Ventures. She brings over 12 years of experience across customer service, quality management, and administration. Before joining Raed, she worked at Raz and Associate.sa, and previously held roles at leading global companies including Uber, Pearson, Expedia.ca, and Cisco. Maha holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Ain Shams University, majoring in French.
Executive Assistant
Yasmina Benbouazza
Yasmina is an Executive Assistant at Raed Ventures. She brings diverse experience in media, copywriting, sales, and back-office operations. She is recognised for her clear communication, reliability, and strong cross-cultural skills.
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Advisor
Seth Levine
Seth Levine is a board member, advisor and mentor to a number of global VCs and companies. He is the co-founder of US-based Foundry Group which focuses on early-stage tech investments, as well as identifying and supporting the next generation of VCs. In addition to his work at Foundry, Seth is active in the global entrepreneurial ecosystem as a founding board member of The Unreasonable Institute, and the Palestinian-focused VC Sadara. He is also advisor to the Nairobi-based Ingressive Capital and a number of other VCs.
Advisor
Abdulla Elyas
Abdulla Elyas is an exceptionally gifted entrepreneur and advisor. He joined Careem as cofounder after the ride-hailing app acquired his startup, home delivery service Enwani. A Saudi national born and raised in Germany, Abdulla was responsible for the introduction of cash payments to the Careem service in Saudi Arabia and has worked to make Careem the first regulated car-hailing service in the Middle East. In 2016, he was appointed to join the Saudi Arabian Small and Medium Enterprise Authority as a board member.
Advisor
Tino Waked
Abdellatif (Tino) Waked is the Regional General Manager at Uber Middle East, Africa, Pakistan &Turkey. In his role he leads Uber’s end-to-end business in the region across 16 countries ranging from policy, tax, operations and business development. Prior to that he was the GM for Middle East & North Africa and before that GM for Egypt where he worked on passing the first ridesharing regulations, launched an extensive product portfolio ranging from Uber Moto to Bus and scaled Cairo to become the fastest growing city for Uber in Middle East, Africa, and Europe. He launched Uber in Cairo in 2014 where he initially joined as Head of Operations in Egypt.
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