Global Ventures

WHO WE ARE

Global Ventures is a Venture Capital Firm based in Dubai making early stage investments in growth companies in the Middle East And Africa. The fund’s investments focus on globally-scalable enterprise technology companies in the MEA region, investing in low-valuation markets, and enabling the scale-up of young companies into global markets, thereby realizing multiple expansion as well as revenue growth. Recent investments include a field workforce solution, Arrow Labs, and an insurance technology platform, CDP, both of which began their global expansions very shortly after an investment by Global Ventures. The region’s young venture industry capitalizes on the youth bulge in the regional population, where 50% of the 400 million population is under 25 years old, as well as the highest digital penetration and social media usage globally, on a per capita basis. In particular, Dubai has become an innovation hub in emerging markets, with access to 3 billion people in a 6-hour flight radius, serving half of the world’s economies, and specifically the rising billion. Global Ventures leverages the youth demographic, access to talent, and low valuation multiples to identify the high-potential, globally-scalable companies and enable their expansion through active and strategic investments into the companies.

$50,000,000

TARGET SIZE OF FUNDS

Sector

Social Impact, Consumer goods, Enterprise Tech

Stage

Series B, Series C, Growth, Series A

Region

Middle East/ North Africa (MENA), North America

Countries

Nigeria, UAE, Egypt, US

Founder(s)

Noor Sweid

Noor Sweid General Partner Noor Sweid is the founder of Global Ventures, a Dubai-based, growth-stage venture capital firm focusing on investing in emerging markets. Previously, Noor was the Chief Investment Officer at The Dubai Future Foundation, where she spent time developing the technology and innovation ecosystem in Dubai, and a Managing Partner at Leap Ventures, a growth-stage venture capital firm based out of Dubai and Beirut. Noor moved back to Dubai in 2005 after spending time in the US as a biotechnology and pharmaceutical strategy consultant. Once in Dubai, Noor joined her family business, Depa. Implementing best-practice corporate governance and enabling the scaling of the business tenfold in three years to reach US$600 million in revenues, Noor then led the IPO for the company in 2008, on the NASDAQ Dubai and the London Stock Exchange. In her eight year tenure at Depa, NoorÕs involvement ranged from the strategic and growth planning and implementation, to application of corporate governance, the execution of a private placement and an IPO, cross-border acquisitions, regulatory compliance, and investor relations. During this time, Noor also founded ZenYoga, the first yoga and pilates studio in MENA, which grew to become the largest chain of wellness studios in the Middle East, and which she exited ZenYoga in early 2014 through sale to a private equity firm. Noor is Chairperson of the Middle East Venture Capital Association, was on the Founding Board of Endeavor UAE, and serves as a Director for MIT Sloan, TechWadi, The Grooming Company, the Collegiate American School in Dubai, as well as the portfolio companies of Global Ventures. In 2018, Noor was named as one of the WorldÕs Top 50 Women in Tech by Forbes, and received the Arab Woman Award for Finance. Noor has also been named in the Arabian Business 100 Most Powerful Arab Women list three times, and has been profiled on the covers of Forbes Middle East, Entrepreneur Middle East, and Arabian Business magazines. Noor holds bachelorsÕ degrees in Finance and Economics from Boston College as well as an MBA from MIT Sloan.