P1 Ventures: Investor Profile

Dubai-based P1 Ventures is a contrarian pan-African seed fund targeting $50M for its second vehicle, with half its bets deliberately outside the 'big four' markets. Its inaugural investment was Yassir — and it reinvested in every round including the $150M Series B.

P1 Ventures is a Dubai-based, pan-African venture capital firm that positions itself as a contrarian, high-conviction investor in African tech. Founded in 2020 by General Partners Mikael Hajjar and Hisham Halbouny — the latter previously a Partner at Man Capital and Managing Director at EFG Hermes — the firm says it partners "from 0 to 1" with ambitious African tech founders. Senior Advisors include Index Ventures founding team member Bernard Dalle and former Uber CBO Emil Michael, and the firm counts Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour among its backers.

Thesis: high-conviction seed in underserved African markets

P1 Ventures deliberately backs a small number of exceptional founders building transformational software businesses with regional and global potential. While Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya — the "big four" — get their share, the firm has committed to putting half its portfolio in underserved markets with strong talent pools in Francophone Africa and lower-income countries. First cheques run $500,000–$1.5 million, and while it is principally a seed fund it operates multistage, following on into Series A and B rounds.

Fund size and stage

The firm's first fund invested $11 million across 29 early-stage companies in 10 countries. Its second fund targets $50 million, with a $25 million first close backed by African industrial conglomerates, private companies and US/European GPs; the International Finance Corporation anchored with a $5 million equity commitment, its first public institutional investor. Sector coverage spans e-commerce, fintech, insurtech, health tech, SaaS and AI — the firm calls AI "Africa's next big leapfrog opportunity." The firm says it manages over $60 million with a 34-company portfolio.

Portfolio highlights

P1's inaugural investment was Yassir, the Algerian super-app that later closed a $150 million Series B. Other names include MoneyFellows (Egypt, fintech), Reliance Health (Nigeria, health tech), Gameball (Egypt, whose seed round P1 led), Chari (Morocco, B2B e-commerce), Nuitee (Morocco) and Nkoloso.ai (Senegal — an AI venture using satellite imagery to manage farmland, backed through the firm's Entrepreneur In Residence programme, which aims to incubate four more startups over four years). Its own site reports 29 portfolio companies across 20 countries, 6,000 direct jobs, and a claim that portfolio companies have raised on average 35x more follow-on capital than P1 invested.

People and programs

Operational support is central: helping recruit talent, forge commercial partnerships and expand into new markets. The firm hired its first in-house data scientist to run AI-powered deal sourcing — described as a pioneering move for African investors. Founders praise its hands-on style: Yassir's CEO credits P1 with sourcing GMs, recruiting a strategy lead from Lyft, introductions to senior operators, and reinvestment in every round.

Why it matters for founders

P1 Ventures is one of the few seed funds deliberately hunting outside the "big four" African markets — if you are building in Francophone Africa or an emerging ecosystem, this is a contrarian door in. Expect a small, hands-on, operator-led partner that reinvests, plus an AI-centric worldview. Founders should confirm current fund terms and active application routes on p1.ventures.