A15’s Karim Beshara On The Cairo-Based Venture Capital Firm's 10x Returns On Its First Fund

In July, the Cairo-based early-stage venture capital (VC) firm A15 celebrated 10x returns in as many years on its inaugural fund, a testament to the wins that investors can make in the startup sector in the region.

The firm, which was founded in Cairo in 2014, has a track record of investing in tech and tech-enabled startups across the MENA, making it in many ways, a first-mover in the investment landscape in the region. Indeed, through its Fund 1, it made early bets on exceptional founders, birthing success stories that have inspired not just entrepreneurs, but also investors, to follow suit.

“In a region where the venture asset class has often been criticized for a lack of meaningful exits, achieving a 10x distributed to paid-in capital (DPI) to date on Fund 1, with multiple investments still left in the fund, sends a clear message: the MENA is capable of producing outsized venture returns,” Karim Beshara, co-founder and General Parter at A15, tells Inc. Arabia. “And it’s not just us—we’re seeing other funds in the region also deliver strong results, which speaks to the health and maturation of the ecosystem.”

The returns that Beshara speaks of, which came largely from investing early in companies that were ahead of the market, have enabled A15 to realize eight successful exits, two of which were dragon exits—exits where the return equals or exceeds the total capital of the fund that invested in it. The first of these was reaped from A15’s investment in the consumer payments platform TPAY Mobile, which was founded by tech entrepreneur Sahar Salama in Egypt in 2014, and went on to see a 76 percent stake of the business sold to the private equity firm Helio Investment Partners.

Another noteworthy dragon exit came from A15’s early bet on Connect Ads, which, founded in Egypt in 2001, sold an 86 percent stake to the global digital media partner Aleph Holding in 2021. These exits, in addition to others, have only reinforced Beshara’s belief that investing in the region is one of the best bets that VCs can make. "Exits such as TPAY Mobile and Connect Ads were more than just strong financial outcomes—they were proof points that the MENA region can produce best-in-class venture returns,” Beshara says. “By fully returning our fund, these exits not only validated our approach but also demonstrated that scaling to significant, globally relevant outcomes is possible here.”

In addition, Beshara points out that these returns, besides making it clear to A15 that it had made the right bets, also signaled to the broader ecosystem the value that can be gained from investing in MENA- based startups. “For investors, these milestones reinforced confidence in the viability of the venture asset class in our region,” he explains. “For founders, they raised the bar—demonstrating that ambitious goals are worth pursuing and achievable with the right combination of vision, execution, and support. We may have been the first to deliver this type of return in the region, but we’re certainly not the only or the last. The ecosystem is evolving and flourishing, and we’re proud to be part of a community that is producing ever-larger successes and inspiring the next generation of MENA entrepreneurs.”

As for how and why A15 achieved these returns, Beshara credits the milestone to a number of factors that he believes have led to the firm’s position today. “It’s a combination of backing the right people early, being unafraid to make big, contrarian bets, and rolling up our sleeves to help them turn ambition into reality,” he says. “We also know that failure is part of the process; some of our most valuable relationships have come from staying connected to founders whose ventures didn’t work out the first time.”

And it is by investing in people, Beshara stresses, that A15 has managed to bet on the fledgling enterprises that went on to make it big. “A big part of our success comes from how early we come in,” he says. “We often invest at the very beginning— sometimes before there’s even a fully formed product or business model. At that stage, we focus far more on the founders than the idea itself. We look for qualities that endure: values, ambition, resilience, and the ability to attract great talent. Our conviction is that the right founder can pivot, adapt, and build something extraordinary, even if the initial idea changes. That’s why there have been times we’ve made bold bets on people even when we weren’t fully convinced by the idea, or when it was still taking shape.”

The A15 team.

Beshara also notes that investing early means that the firm plays a key role in shaping the direction that companies take. “From day one, A15 has been more than just an investor— we’ve been an operational partner, ready to step in and offer complementary support to our founders wherever and whenever needed,” he explains. “Our team is made up of people who have built, scaled, and exited multiple companies across different industries and geographies before becoming venture investors. That founder experience means we understand the realities of entrepreneurship— from the stress of having only a few weeks of runway to the pressure of making the hardest calls.”

Plus, after 10 years of experience ofrolling up their sleeves and supporting startups, Beshara says that today, the team at A15 have developed a clear methodology that allows them to take their portfolio companies to the next level. “Being willing and able to get deeply involved across the full spectrum of company building is part of our DNA,” he adds. “It’s one of the main reasons founders choose to work with us. What began as a raw, instinctive way of supporting our portfolio has become more structured over time, allowing us to apply this approach repeatedly and consistently across companies.”

Looking ahead to the next decade for A15, Beshara says that his goal is to maintain and strengthen the model the firm has built, while also structuring it for scale by leveraging the group’s network of founders. “One of our greatest assets is the community that’s grown organically around this work—a network we’ve invested time and care into over the past decade,” he says. “It has quietly become one of A15’s defining strengths: a trusted group of founders who genuinely support each other. The camaraderie, shared experience, and complementary skills within this network are a powerful extension of our team, enabling the A15 platform to mentor and back the next generation of startups with even greater depth and reach.”

Plus, in addition to continuing to champion its founder-first strategy, Beshara stresses that A15 will continue to be sector-agnostic, betting on outlier founders who are using or developing technology in promising spaces rather than chasing trends. “We value sustainable margins over unsustainable growth,” Beshara explains. “Having said that, artificial intelligence (AI) is of course the most transformative shift on the horizon— on par with the seismic changes brought about by cloud and mobile. We see it not just as a product category, but as an inevitable enabler across sectors. If you’re not using AI, you’re already behind—and the gap is widening fast. Your competitors are using it to build faster, operate more efficiently, and deliver richer, more personalized customer experiences. Very soon, not leaning into AI could be an existential risk, not just a missed opportunity.”

For Beshara, this translates into backing founders utilizing AI to transform more conventional industries. “We’re particularly excited about founders who combine AI with deep vertical expertise to disrupt legacy, operationally intensive industries—whether that’s farming and agriculture, insurance claims and approvals, transportation and logistics, construction, or manufacturing,” he says. “These are massive markets with entrenched inefficiencies, where AI can dramatically change cost structures, speed, and the value delivered to customers.”

But it’s not just the market that’s transforming. Critically, Beshara tells us that the landscape today has changed considerably since he first entered VC a little over a decade ago. In fact, he notes that one of the most notable changes to the region’s startup ecosystem has been the proliferation not just of startups, but of VCs as well. “When A15 launched in 2014, the regional venture ecosystem was still in its early stages, with only a handful of active funds,” he recalls. “Today, the landscape looks very different—there are many more VCs operating in the MENA, both regional and international. This is a positive evolution and a sign that the market is evolving, with more capital, experience, and ambition than ever before.”

Beshara also notes that, today, more than ever before, regional as well as global funds are increasingly putting their faith—not to mention their dollars—in backing founders and startups across the region. Besides increasing competition between VCs, this maturity of the ecosystem is also opening the door for more collaboration between its stakeholders. “We’ve always believed that venture is one of the most collaborative industries out there,” Beshara says. “Over the years, we’ve built strong partnerships with outstanding VCs both in the region and globally. These collaborations have not only helped our founders scale, but have also contributed to the overall health and dynamism of the ecosystem.”

Keeping this ethos in mind, Beshara points out that A15’s celebration of 10x returns today sends a clear message to both regional and global investors that the MENA region is not just investable, but that it can make precisely the kinds of gains that VCs seek out. “For regional stakeholders, it’s proof that building break-out companies is not only possible but increasingly repeatable,” he says. “For global investors, it’s a signal that the MENA deserves serious attention: when approached with discipline, focus, and the right partnerships, our region can play—and win—on the global stage.”

Pictured in the lead image is A15 General Partner Karim Beshara. All images courtesy A15. 

This article first appeared in the October 2025 issue of Inc. Arabia. To read the full issue online, click here.