Investor Profile: Ibtikar Fund — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Ibtikar Fund — ibtikar means innovation in Arabic — is the only Palestinian venture capital fund targeting early-stage startups founded by Palestinian entrepreneurs. Based in Ramallah, it was created to close a gap its founders saw clearly: plenty of effort went into the idea stage for Palestinian startups, and then nothing. There was nobody to fund the company that came next. Ibtikar exists to be that funder, from seed through to Series A, for founders in Palestine and across the wider Middle East and North Africa.

For Palestinian founders, Ibtikar Fund funding is not one option among many — it is the specialist institution built for them.

Investment thesis

Ibtikar invests in tech and tech-enabled startups founded by Palestinian entrepreneurs, both from within Palestine and from the broader MENA region. Its test is scalability and need: companies that serve a MENA-region or global need, with business models that can grow beyond local markets. The firm partners with local accelerators in the West Bank and Gaza to nurture startups early, then increases its investment in the most promising companies over time.

Sectors and stages

Ibtikar backs seed and early-stage technology companies, with occasional Series A investments in its own portfolio. Its sector lens is broad — information technology, software, media and related technology-driven services — but the filter is always the same: scalable, tech-enabled, and addressing a real market need at regional or global scale.

Fund size and cheque size

Ibtikar's first fund raised $10.4 million and made 26 investments. Its second fund, Ibtikar Fund II, closed at $25 million — above its initial $15 million target and double the size of the maiden fund — and aims to invest in 25 tech startups founded by Palestinian entrepreneurs in the MENA region. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development committed $3 million as a limited partner, its first equity investment in a venture capital fund in the West Bank, alongside the Bank of Palestine as anchor, the Dutch Good Growth Fund and the International Finance Corporation.

Second-fund cheques are around $500,000 for seed and pre-Series A startups, with earlier investments reaching up to $1 million for the most promising companies as they scale.

Notable portfolio

Ibtikar's portfolio includes Mashvisor, a data platform for real estate investors; Verity, a financial literacy platform for teenagers; DataQueue, an AI lifecycle platform covering data labelling, model training and deployment; Mental, immersive web and virtual reality training; and Vatrin, payments and order management for small businesses. More recent investments include Churn Solution, an AI-powered customer retention platform founded in 2025, and Nabeeh, a home services booking platform.

Partners and team

Ibtikar is led by managing partners Ambar Amleh and Habib Hazzan, who founded the firm with Reem Qawasmi. Amleh has described the mission plainly: to provide much-needed capital to Palestinian founders, support them as they scale, and foster a tech ecosystem that is resilient and future-focused.

How to apply for funding

Founders can approach Ibtikar Fund through its official website, ibtikarfund.com. Come with an innovative, tech-enabled idea and a regional or global market. Palestinian founders based elsewhere in MENA can also apply, provided the company carries a genuine Palestinian nexus.