Algebra Ventures Fund I (IFC-37639)

Regions
  • Middle East and North Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Egypt
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
FI
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Sep 30, 2016
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Algebra Ventures
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Equity
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 10.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jul 31, 2018

Disclosed by Bank Jun 2, 2016

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to IFC website, the project consists of an equity investment of up to US$10 million (not to exceed 20% of total capital commitments) in Algebra Ventures Fund Coop A.V. The Fund will be incorporated as a closed-end venture capital fund in the Netherlands with an expected final size of US$50 million. Algebra will make investments in technology and technology-enabled startups mainly in Egypt and in other countries in the Middle East and North Africa region.

People Affected By This Project
People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

(i) Access to Finance: The Fund will focus on early stage startups in Egypt, a market that has traditionally been underserved by investors, particularly for startups requiring series A and series B funding. While Egyptian startups have recently started to experience a growing interest from accelerator funds and angel investors, they do not have enough access to Series A/B/C capital which cause many of them to wind down due to lack of funding.
(ii) Private Sector Development: The Fund Manager''s financial, technical, and operational skills will help the Fund''s portfolio companies grow sales and revenues, achieve and increase profitability, and access additional capital through subsequent funding rounds. The Fund will also help support technology and technology enabled start-ups and entrepreneurship in Egypt.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

The Fund will be managed by Algebra Ventures B.V. (the “Fund Manager”), which will be incorporated as a private Limited Liability Company in the Netherlands. The Fund principals will be the key shareholders of the Fund Manager, namely: Khaled Ismail, Tarek Assaad, and Ziad Mokhtar.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Project Contact: Ziad Mokhtar
Office Address: Villa 156, Mirage City, First Settlement, New Cairo – Cairo, Egypt.
Telephone No.: +201001351337
Email: ziad@algebraventures.com

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

How it works

How it works