Disruptech Ventures, one of Egypt’s most active fintech-focused venture capital funds, is preparing to shift gears in 2025 and 2026 as it doubles down on portfolio support and new investments, with a growing emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI) and cross-sector collaboration.
Founded in 2020 by Mohamed Okasha, former managing director of Egypt’s leading digital payment provider Fawry, Disruptech has invested in 21 early-stage startups and currently manages a $36m fund. According to Okasha, around two-thirds of that capital has already been deployed, and the fund will continue investing until the end of 2026. Plans for exits are expected to begin from 2027, once some portfolio companies hit strategic inflection points.
“Egypt is not just a large market — it is a deep reservoir of talent,” said Okasha. “We are increasingly seeing Egyptian entrepreneurs not only build regionally competitive startups, but also lead globally innovative solutions. That’s why our strategy remains rooted in backing local talent, both within Egypt and in the diaspora.”
With momentum building, Okasha said that a second fund is under consideration. While no timeline has been officially confirmed, he described the move as a “natural progression” and indicated that discussions with both existing and prospective limited partners are already underway.
The fund’s current backers include international development finance institutions such as Proparco and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), both of which committed $5m each. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA) also participated early on, co-investing $4m — an investment that later catalyzed more than $400m in follow-on funding for Disruptech-backed startups.
Disruptech’s average cheque size ranges from $250k to $1.25m, depending on a company’s maturity, with a current average total commitment of $1.2m per portfolio company. Cumulatively, the fund’s investees have generated over $450m in revenue and created more than 50,000 jobs across 12 markets.
From Fintech to AI: Expanding the Tech Stack
Although Disruptech maintains a core focus on financial technology, its definition of fintech has expanded to encompass adjacent sectors and digital infrastructure. Okasha outlines the fund’s portfolio across four major categories:
- Financial infrastructure: Companies like BanknBox and Connect Money, which build the backend rails enabling financial digitisation.
- Financial services: Startups such as MNT-Halan, Khazna, Lucky, MalBazaar, and Bokra, targeting underbanked populations with consumer credit, insurance, and investment tools.
- Strategic sectors: Companies that intersect with fintech, including Mozare3 (agritech), i’SUPPLY (healthtech), and Sprints (edtech).
- Emerging technologies: Ventures such as WideBot, an Arabic AI chatbot builder, and Hamilton, which tokenizes real-world assets on the Bitcoin network.
“Artificial intelligence will be a central theme for us going forward,” Okasha confirmed. “Its potential to improve operational efficiency, scale solutions, and widen economic participation aligns perfectly with our long-term mission.”
Building an Innovation Ecosystem — Not Just Startups
While capital deployment remains central, Disruptech increasingly sees its role as ecosystem enabler. Yahya Abu Al-Wafa, a partner at the fund, points to emerging synergies between portfolio companies as a sign of deeper maturity in the ecosystem.
For example, Bokra, a digital investment platform offering Sharia-compliant products, recently partnered with i’SUPPLY, Egypt’s largest digital pharmaceutical distributor, to structure a revenue-based financing model for pharmacies. In another instance, Connect Money and agritech platform Mozare3 collaborated to launch a smart “Farmers Card,” enabling digital payments and credit access for rural agricultural workers.
“These partnerships go beyond commercial benefit,” said Abu Al-Wafa. “They represent a step toward the kind of integrated innovation economy that can deliver real impact at scale.”
Disruptech has also begun to back startups beyond Egypt’s borders, so long as their technical and operational centers remain in the country — a strategy that allows for revenue generation in foreign currencies while retaining a cost base in Egyptian pounds, thus boosting financial resilience.
Disruptech’s strategic realignment comes amid broader shifts in Egypt’s tech sector, where the early exuberance of VC capital is giving way to more disciplined, product-driven growth.
“There’s been a healthy recalibration,” said Malek Sultan, another partner at the fund. “Companies have become more cost-conscious and are focusing more on core technology and user experience, rather than burn-fueled growth.”
Sultan also emphasized that startups exporting digital solutions — particularly in SaaS, fintech infrastructure, and embedded finance — are best placed to achieve regional scale and currency hedging advantages.
Beyond capital, Disruptech is also playing a role in policy advocacy. The firm maintains an ongoing dialogue with Egyptian regulatory bodies and ministries, aiming to shape a balanced framework that protects consumers while encouraging innovation. “By highlighting real use cases from our portfolio, we help regulators understand where fintech is heading and what’s needed to support sustainable growth,” Sultan added.
As Egypt continues to position itself as a regional fintech hub, Disruptech is angling to remain at the center of this transformation. Its blend of sectoral depth, strategic partnerships, and AI-first investments reflect a maturing thesis — one that’s less about chasing trends and more about building long-term infrastructure for innovation.
The coming years will be telling. If Disruptech can successfully launch its second fund while engineering exits from its first, it could set a new benchmark for what locally rooted, globally minded VC can look like in Egypt and beyond.