COTU Ventures is a Dubai-based seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2021 by Amir Farha, one of the pioneers of early-stage investing in the Middle East. The firm partners with founders from pre-seed to Series A, supplying the capital, operating know-how and network needed to reach product-market fit. Its inaugural fund closed at $54 million, backed by a blue-chip list of regional institutional LPs.

The founder behind the fund

Farha has been a venture capitalist for more than 15 years. He began in 2005 at a London-based VC investing in early-stage tech, returned to Dubai in 2008 to launch the Arab Business Angel Network — the first seed fund in MENA, backed by Dubai International Capital — then founded advisory firm Tandem Partners in 2009, which he exited in 2017. In 2012 he co-founded BECO Capital, where over nine years he raised and deployed two funds across 35 companies with AUM of over $200 million, backing Careem (acquired by Uber), Fresha, Property Finder, MaxAB, Kitopi, Tribal Credit, Vezeeta and Proximie. A Kauffman Fellow, he holds a BSc in Computer Information Systems and an MSc in Management from the University of Bath. His team includes Kayra Yasa, Ahmad Hammoudi, Nourhan Abdelaal, Anthony Khoury and Yusuf Saber, offering founders hands-on support across go-to-market, fundraising and key hires.

Fund size and cheque size

The $54 million inaugural fund counts among its limited partners Lunate, Mubadala, the Dubai Future District Fund, Arab Bank, Bupa KSA, and GPs from international VCs including Foundry Group, Tribe Capital and Stride, alongside family offices. The fund is sector-agnostic, with a stated interest in fintech and B2B software, and typically writes cheques of $500,000 to $1.5 million, engaging with founders from the inception of the idea through post-product launch.

Portfolio and geography

COTU has backed more than 20 early-stage startups across the GCC and beyond, primarily in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan. Notable investments include UAE mortgage platform Huspy, Supy, Egyptian fintech MoneyHash and Sirdab. Farha's public thesis is that Saudi Arabia's government policy, tech-savvy population, low customer acquisition costs and high revenue per user make the region one of the most profitable places to invest today.

Why it matters for founders

If you are raising pre-seed or seed in MENA — especially in fintech or B2B software — COTU Ventures combines a $54 million war chest, an institutional LP base that opens doors across the GCC, and a GP who has already backed a generational winner in Careem. Expect an investor that leans in hard on go-to-market and hiring, not just a cheque.