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We invest in founders who
We partner with exceptional founders building breakthrough companies and creating scalable impact in MENA
A catalyst for growth in the MENA region
Investing in potential
01
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
Strategic Partnerships
02
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
03
We open up doors for MENA startups and provide them with the opportunity to work in the Saudi & GCC markets
Access to RAEDPlus
04
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
Financial Return
Our top priority is generating substantial returns to our investors through adding value to our portfolio companies in several verticals.
Social Impact
Raed Ventures has been a positive force in society through a number of social initiatives, namely job creation, women empowerment, localized content creation and helping in the overall improvement of quality of life in MENA.
Ecosystem Acceleration
MENA region is expected to emerge as the runner-up to global markets in digital innovation in the near future. Raed Ventures has been one of the main players in accelerating the regional ecosystem.
Our team
Omar Almajdouie
Founding Partner
Saed Nashef
Founding Partner
Talal Alasmari
Founding Partner
Wael Nafee
Partner
Yomna Abousamra
Senior Associate
Arsalan Yousuf
Head of Finance
Aashish Dhaawan
Head of Compliance and Risk
Uday Singh
Associate
Naveed Ahmed
Finance Associate
Hussien Abdulgader
Business expert
Maha Adel
Executive Assistant
Seth Levine
Advisor
Abdulla Elyas
Advisor
Tino Waked
Advisor
We are open to investing in any sector that proves to be impactful and sustainable financially, environmentally and socially
FinTech
01
E-commerce
02
Logistics
04
EdTech
04
Digital Health
05
Entreprise Solutions
06
Entertainment
07
RetailTech
08
AI/ML
09
SaaS - Marketplaces - Aggregators
Models
Success is just one partnership away!
Partners
We have successfully partnered with great companies to support our founders.
Founding Partner
Omar Almajdouie
Omar brings to RAED over 17 years of experience in senior positions in the corporate environment. Previously, he was the CEO of Almajdouie Manufacturing LLC. He currently serves on several boards of leading startups and organizations such as Mrsool, Foodics, Trella, Tweeq, Endeavor Saudi Arabia and The Saudi Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SVCPEA). Omar believed early on that corporations must adapt in order to survive in the digital age, and that tech startups will have a transformative and disruptive impact on the traditional business landscape. Driven by this foresight, he set out to establish and launch Raed Ventures in late 2015.
Founding Partner
Saed Nashef
Saed brings extensive experience in VC investing. He is the cofounder of Sadara Ventures, one of the first venture capital firms in the region, and the first to launch a fund established in Palestine. 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 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 to Raed over 10 years of experience in working in the startup environment. He was the co-founder of multiple startups Tarmeez, Lamma and Modha, the last of which got acquired by a Saudi family office in 2014. Talal was also part of the managing team at Remal Ventures which saw the acquisition of Remal’s gaming platform Kammelna by leading Turkish gaming studio Peak Games in 2012. Through these experiences, Talal brings to Raed deep insights into team building and product design. He also works closely with various portfolio companies, serving on the boards of startups Sary, Salla and Dawul. It is worth noting that Talal led the design and implementation of the RAED Plus program, a founder-centric platform designed to give portfolio leaders an advantage over other players in their space.
Partner
Wael Nafee
Wael is principal at Raed who brings 17 years of experience in product building and design, having graduated as a computer engineer then worked as software engineer and head of product. A Careem alumnus, Wael joined Raed team following Careem’s successful exit to Uber. He also is an experienced entrepreneur, having launched his startup HoverChat in Silicon Valley and joined the reputable YC combinator acceleration program. His interest and experience in tech products make him a great addition to Raed’s team.
Senior Associate
Yomna Abousamra
Yomna is an investment analyst who joined Raed in 2020. She has four years’ experience in financial analysis and modeling. She is also an Uber alumnus, having worked in their EMEA financial planning team . Prior to Uber, she worked financial roles in GE and CIB Egypt. Yomna graduated with distinction from AUC with a double major in Business Administration and Economics, along with a number of accolades from AUC. She holds CFA level 1.
Head of Finance
Arsalan Yousuf
Arsalan Yousuf was appointed finance manager of Raed Ventures in December 2019. His career spans more than 11 years of experience in financial management, auditing, finance business partner, financial reporting and corporate compliance. Prior to joining Raed Ventures in 2019, Arsalan served as senior financial reporting manager in Rocket Internet. He began his career at Deloitte in the assurance and advisory practice. He holds a chartered accountancy qualification (ACA) from the Institute of England and Wales (ICAEW) and a BSc in Applied Accounting from the Oxford Brookes University. He is also a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Head of Compliance and Risk
Aashish Dhaawan
With over 16 years of professional experience, Ashish has demonstrated his capabilities in regulatory compliance, operational risk, credit risk, and enterprise risk management within regulated financial services organizations. Prior to joining Raed Ventures, Ashish held senior positions at prominent financial institutions and fintech companies, including Deem Finance, Lnddo Digital Lending, Pluto Technologies, Religare, and Citifinancial in both the UAE and India. In his current role at Raed Ventures, Ashish leads the Compliance and Enterprise Risk function. In this capacity, he is also tasked with implementing best practices and providing support to portfolio companies within his domain. Ashish's educational background includes a Post-Graduate Degree in Business Administration, complemented by his professional certification as a Regulatory Compliance Specialist.
Associate
Uday Singh
Uday is an investment associate who joined Raed in 2023. He has four years’ experience in commercial due diligence and financial analysis. Prior to Raed he worked with a large UAE based family office to manage the company’s tech portfolio and previously has also worked for F&B startup, Zomato in the Middle east and a leading management consulting firm in UAE. Uday has completed all 3 levels of the CFA program and holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Heriot Watt UK
Finance Associate
Naveed Ahmed
With 7 years of experience in financial management, auditing, taxation, financial reporting and corporate compliance. Naveed joined Raed in April 2024
Business expert
Hussien Abdulgader
Hussien was part of the team that launched Raed in 2016. He previously worked at AlMajdouie Group in 2016 and transitioned to Raed Ventures as the business support associate later that year. Hussien has over 12 years of experience in business development & administration. He holds a BSc in Translation and a preliminary MBA from the OUM University.
Executive Assistant
Maha Adel
Maha is an Executive Assistant who joined Raed in 2021. She has four years’ experience in administration as she previously worked in Raz and Associate.sa. Over 12 years in Customer service and quality department in many companies such as Uber, Pearson, Expedia.ca and Cisco. Maha is graduated from faculty of Education, french department Ain Shams University
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 to RAED over 17 years of experience in senior positions in the corporate environment. Previously, he was the CEO of Almajdouie Manufacturing LLC. He currently serves on several boards of leading startups and organizations such as Mrsool, Foodics, Trella, Tweeq, Endeavor Saudi Arabia and The Saudi Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SVCPEA). Omar believed early on that corporations must adapt in order to survive in the digital age, and that tech startups will have a transformative and disruptive impact on the traditional business landscape. Driven by this foresight, he set out to establish and launch Raed Ventures in late 2015.
Founding Partner
Saed Nashef
Saed brings extensive experience in VC investing. He is the cofounder of Sadara Ventures, one of the first venture capital firms in the region, and the first to launch a fund established in Palestine. 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 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 to Raed over 10 years of experience in working in the startup environment. He was the co-founder of multiple startups Tarmeez, Lamma and Modha, the last of which got acquired by a Saudi family office in 2014. Talal was also part of the managing team at Remal Ventures which saw the acquisition of Remal’s gaming platform Kammelna by leading Turkish gaming studio Peak Games in 2012. Through these experiences, Talal brings to Raed deep insights into team building and product design. He also works closely with various portfolio companies, serving on the boards of startups Sary, Salla and Dawul. It is worth noting that Talal led the design and implementation of the RAED Plus program, a founder-centric platform designed to give portfolio leaders an advantage over other players in their space.
Partner
Wael Nafee
Wael is principal at Raed who brings 17 years of experience in product building and design, having graduated as a computer engineer then worked as software engineer and head of product. A Careem alumnus, Wael joined Raed team following Careem’s successful exit to Uber. He also is an experienced entrepreneur, having launched his startup HoverChat in Silicon Valley and joined the reputable YC combinator acceleration program. His interest and experience in tech products make him a great addition to Raed’s team.
Senior Associate
Yomna Abousamra
Yomna is an investment analyst who joined Raed in 2020. She has four years’ experience in financial analysis and modeling. She is also an Uber alumnus, having worked in their EMEA financial planning team . Prior to Uber, she worked financial roles in GE and CIB Egypt. Yomna graduated with distinction from AUC with a double major in Business Administration and Economics, along with a number of accolades from AUC. She holds CFA level 1.
Head of Finance
Arsalan Yousuf
Arsalan Yousuf was appointed finance manager of Raed Ventures in December 2019. His career spans more than 11 years of experience in financial management, auditing, finance business partner, financial reporting and corporate compliance. Prior to joining Raed Ventures in 2019, Arsalan served as senior financial reporting manager in Rocket Internet. He began his career at Deloitte in the assurance and advisory practice. He holds a chartered accountancy qualification (ACA) from the Institute of England and Wales (ICAEW) and a BSc in Applied Accounting from the Oxford Brookes University. He is also a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Head of Compliance and Risk
Aashish Dhaawan
With over 16 years of professional experience, Ashish has demonstrated his capabilities in regulatory compliance, operational risk, credit risk, and enterprise risk management within regulated financial services organizations. Prior to joining Raed Ventures, Ashish held senior positions at prominent financial institutions and fintech companies, including Deem Finance, Lnddo Digital Lending, Pluto Technologies, Religare, and Citifinancial in both the UAE and India. In his current role at Raed Ventures, Ashish leads the Compliance and Enterprise Risk function. In this capacity, he is also tasked with implementing best practices and providing support to portfolio companies within his domain. Ashish's educational background includes a Post-Graduate Degree in Business Administration, complemented by his professional certification as a Regulatory Compliance Specialist.
Associate
Uday Singh
Uday is an investment associate who joined Raed in 2023. He has four years’ experience in commercial due diligence and financial analysis. Prior to Raed he worked with a large UAE based family office to manage the company’s tech portfolio and previously has also worked for F&B startup, Zomato in the Middle east and a leading management consulting firm in UAE. Uday has completed all 3 levels of the CFA program and holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Heriot Watt UK
Finance Associate
Naveed Ahmed
With 7 years of experience in financial management, auditing, taxation, financial reporting and corporate compliance. Naveed joined Raed in April 2024
Business expert
Hussien Abdulgader
Hussien was part of the team that launched Raed in 2016. He previously worked at AlMajdouie Group in 2016 and transitioned to Raed Ventures as the business support associate later that year. Hussien has over 12 years of experience in business development & administration. He holds a BSc in Translation and a preliminary MBA from the OUM University.
Executive Assistant
Maha Adel
Maha is an Executive Assistant who joined Raed in 2021. She has four years’ experience in administration as she previously worked in Raz and Associate.sa. Over 12 years in Customer service and quality department in many companies such as Uber, Pearson, Expedia.ca and Cisco. Maha is graduated from faculty of Education, french department Ain Shams University
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.