Abdulrahman Tarabzouni

Motivating Venture Capital in the Era of MENA Technology and Innovation

Saud Al Nowais, Ron Cao, Fadi Ghandour, Sumant Mandal, Abdulrahman Tarabzouni, Srdin Nwes

VC leaders from March Capital, Wamda Capital, Sky9 Capital, and STV analyzed the MENA region's transition from copycat businesses to deep tech innovation, highlighting a critical need for government-subsidized patient capital and cross-border mobility to address a funding deficit that requires a twenty-fold increase. The panel identified a unique inflection point where high local digital demand meets emerging supply, urging sovereign wealth funds to partner with established general partners while corporate venture arms leverage telecom assets to solve value leakage in e-commerce and gaming. By focusing on core infrastructure like fintech and logistics before attempting frontier technologies, the ecosystem aims to create regional unicorns and digital defaults within the next three to five years.