Berytech Fund
invests $20 million

Equity injected in 12 local SMEs

Berytech Fund II has invested nearly $20 million since its inception ten months ago, said Paul Chucrallah, Fund Managing Director. These equity investments were injected in 12 small companies in the telecommunications, digital content, and industrial design sectors, he said.

“This is a breakthrough achieved in such a short period of time as the fund is supposed to invest its capital, amounting to $51.5 million, over a period of four years,” Chucrallah said.

The SMEs that the fund has invested in are Instabeat, Loop, CCC, Mobinets, Cinemoz, Et3arraf, Ounousa, ElementN/Scriptr, Slighter, Atbaki, Appdater, and Yalla Play.

Instabeat, which has developed a heart monitoring device, has secured an equity investment of up to $4 million from the fund. Loop received an investment of $2.5 million. CCC, Et3arraf, and Ounousa, each received $2 million. As for the remaining firms, each received less that $2 million in funding.

Berytech Fund has to exit each investment within seven years. The investments come under the Central Bank’s Circular 331, which aims to support knowledge and innovative sectors.

Some of the companies also received investments from the Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), BLC Invest, and IM Capital.

Berytech Fund II plans to invest in companies operating in the renewable energy, and the fashion and design sectors, early next year, Chucrallah said. He expects the fund to invest between $10 million and $15 million in 2016.

Berytech Fund II, which was launched on February 25th of this year, invests in the equities of local SMEs operating in: Information and communications technology (ICT), digital content, industrial design, renewable energy, and fashion and design. The fund is part of Berytech, the first business incubator created in the country.