A Conversation with One of MENA’s Leading Regional Venture Capitalists
A Summary of Five One Invest’s July Speaker Series
Do you want to know more about the leading investors in the MENA region? This Speaker Series will be the first of several to introduce you to different leading investors across the Middle East. In July’s Speaker Series, Marie-Therese Fam of Flat6Labs shared with us her experience and Flat6Labs’ ten years of success.
FLAT6LABS: AN INTRODUCTION
Marie-Therese Fam is the managing partner at Flat6Labs Egypt, which is one of the MENA region's leading seed and early-stage venture capital firms. Flat6Labs initially started in Egypt and later on, they expanded into six other countries during their ten years of operations and have a presence in Cairo, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Tunis, Bahrain, and Amman, with plans to expand into more locations in the MENA region soon.
FLAT6LABS: ROLE IN THE MARKET AND PROGRAMS
Flat6Labs helps businesses from different parts of the world grow and be successful, and as an investment firm, Flat6Labs’ goal is to invest in startups. They, therefore, prioritize running programs to help these startups ensure that they are investment-ready.
Flat6Labs’ programs are based on the needs and experiences of entrepreneurs and include everything from pre-accelerator programs to four-month-long accelerator programs. They invest up to $80k-$100k in their program alumni to be their initial partners and provide startups with support from mentors, legal advice and access to a trusted network of investors.
While investment in startups across MENA is growing, it is still necessary to promote it and properly introduce it to the region, especially in areas that see less investment. The work that is done by players like Flat6Labs contributes to the ecosystem and enriches it. As Marie-Therese told us, “The more success stories we have, the more attention and support we will get.” Looking back ten years ago, the word “entrepreneur” was one that was less familiar than it is today, which shows us how far we have come. The region is increasingly starting to understand investment in startups to be the “future of the economy.”
MARIE-THERESE FAM: TIPS AND ADVICE
Marie-Therese encourages entrepreneurs to dream big and have clear milestones and advises them to always concentrate on the team they build because that is one of the success keys for a startup.
Flat6Labs in particular looks for three key qualities in a startup:
The market size and growth potential of the startup, because as Marie-Therese mentioned, “It is an investment decision after all!”
The team because “a tech startup’s capital is its human capital.”
Market research and the clear identification of the problem that the startup is solving.
She advises entrepreneurs to look for an investor through startups similar to your startup and recommends investment over bank loans, as these loans tend to have a very high interest rate that could be harmful to the startup in the long run. Finding the right investor will alternatively help the business grow due to the experience and network that the investor may have in the startup’s field.
Marie-Therese mentions that there is an investor in every sector, but Flat6Labs concentrates on tech-based startups due to tech’s growth potential. ”Technology is the future; it reaches millions of people in seconds.”
And while Flat6Labs is not currently operating in Iraq, the firm views the Iraqi market to be a very large one with a lot of potential, so expanding into Iraq in the future is not unlikely.
You can watch the session in Arabic from here.