Cairo-Based Foundation Ventures Secures $25M To Back Egypt’s Startups

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

February 3, 2025

Cairo-based venture capital firm Foundation Ventures has successfully raised $25 million for its second fund, FVFII, aimed at supporting early and growth-stage startups in Egypt.

Key Highlights

The new fund has attracted key investors such as the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund (EAEF), the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA), and businessman Onsi Sawiris.

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FVFII targets early- and growth-stage Egyptian startups with plans for regional and global expansion. While the primary focus is on Egypt, the fund will also allocate capital to high-potential startups across Africa. It plans to invest in ventures with initial ticket sizes ranging from $750,000 to $1 million.

The fund’s strategy is theme-driven, rather than sector-specific, ensuring flexibility in investment decisions while maintaining a primary focus on the Egyptian market and secondary opportunities in Africa.

Foundation Ventures’ Growth

Foundation Ventures launched its first fund, FVF1 Vintage, in 2019. The firm is led by Mazen Nadim, managing partner, with partners Omar Barakat and Ziyad Hamdy. The company also has a strategic partnership with HOF, a US-based VC firm managing over $1.5 billion in assets under management, serving as a General Partner.

The firm’s portfolio includes promising startups such as Rabbit, Flextock, Swypex, Aydi, Trella, and Abwaab.

Opportunities In Egypt’s Startup Landscape

Nadim noted that Egypt’s devalued currency offers a unique opportunity for startups to leverage the country’s skilled tech talent while positioning Egypt as a cost-efficient testing ground for new ventures.

In 2024, Egypt attracted $334 million across 84 deals, with the fintech sector leading with $237 million invested across 17 fintech startups, according to Wamda and Digital Digest. The logistics sector secured $23.5 million, while e-commerce raised $22.5 million.

Most of the capital came from local investors, with Saudi investors following closely behind. Notable recent investments include a $13 million funding round for Simplex, a CNC machine manufacturing startup, and $22 million raised by Paymob in a Series B extension round, bringing its total Series B funding to $72 million.

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Meta Takes Muse From Consumer Buzz To Small Business Utility

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

September 29, 2026

Meta is widening the ambitions of its Muse AI agent, moving beyond consumer appeal and into the operational core of small business workflows.

A New Push Into Business Productivity

The company on Tuesday introduced Muse for Small Business, a version of the agent designed to connect with widely used software and services from Asana, Zoom, Intuit, Box, Canva and Slack. It can also link directly to Meta ad accounts and professional Instagram and Facebook profiles, turning the agent into a more practical business tool rather than a standalone assistant.

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Pricing remains aligned with the existing Muse app, which is free within usage limits and available on a subscription basis for heavier use.

Meta’s Enterprise Strategy Is Coming Into Focus

The launch follows Monday’s announcement that Meta will build a broader enterprise platform and has brought in MongoDB CEO C.J. Desai to lead it. That platform is expected to include a Muse agent, a business agent and a coding tool, signaling a more deliberate move into enterprise software.

The timing is notable. Meta has enjoyed a strong stretch on Wall Street, with the stock rising sharply in September before pulling back in recent sessions. Much of that momentum has been tied to Muse, which launched on Sept. 8 and quickly climbed to the top of Apple’s App Store, overtaking ChatGPT. Evercore analyst Mark Mahaney has said he expects Muse to reach 100 million users within six to 12 months.

Why Small Business Matters To Meta

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been explicit about the company’s push to find durable AI revenue beyond advertising, which still accounts for the overwhelming share of Meta’s business. After spending heavily on AI talent, including Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang, Meta has begun rolling out new models under the Muse Spark family, and Zuckerberg has called Muse the “centerpiece” of the company’s AI strategy.

For Meta, small business is a logical entry point. The company says about 200 million small businesses already use Facebook, giving it a vast distribution base and a ready-made customer pool for AI-driven productivity tools. In other words, Meta is not trying to create demand from scratch; it is trying to attach a higher-value service to an existing ecosystem.

The Competitive Stakes Are Rising

The new product arrives as OpenAI holds its developer day and as competition intensifies across enterprise AI. Meta’s move is a clear signal that it intends to compete not only for consumers, but also for business users who increasingly want AI embedded into the platforms they already rely on.

As Meta put it in its announcement: “Small businesses have been growing on our apps for nearly two decades. They told us they’re short on hours, not ideas. So we built Muse for Small Business to help get work done with the tools they already use.”

That framing captures the broader opportunity. The next phase of AI adoption will not be defined solely by novelty or chatbot engagement. It will be defined by integration, workflow efficiency and the ability to deliver measurable business outcomes. Meta appears determined to be in that race.

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