In a move that indicates a growing push to close the gender funding gap in emerging markets, impact investor Village Capital has secured support from Standard Chartered to channel catalytic capital into women-led startups in MENA and South Asia — including two from Africa.
The $200,000 investment, announced yesterday, will support three women-founded startups: BeMe (Pakistan), Dabchy (Tunisia), and FreshSource (Egypt). The funding comes via the Futuremakers Women in Tech Financing Facility, a philanthropic initiative by Standard Chartered designed to advance women entrepreneurs across the bank’s footprint.
While the sum may seem modest by venture capital standards, the funding is highly targeted. Each startup receiving investment is an alumna of the Women in Tech accelerator program, a regional platform created to address systemic challenges faced by women in entrepreneurship — including limited access to early-stage capital and underrepresentation in key sectors.
“This initiative is about more than funding,” said Meredith Storton, Senior Manager of Investments at Village Capital. “It’s about long-term ecosystem support. These companies are creating bold, context-specific solutions in sectors that urgently need innovation.”
The announcement signals a significant vote of confidence in African female founders, with two of the three investees based on the continent.
FreshSource, co-founded by Farah Emara, is a Cairo-based agri-tech startup that’s digitising Egypt’s fresh produce supply chains. Its platform connects smallholder farmers directly to institutional buyers such as restaurants and retailers, reducing food loss and driving price transparency. With this new funding, FreshSource plans to deepen its logistics capabilities and expand its footprint across Egypt.
“The investment from Village Capital will accelerate our growth and deepen our impact,” Emara told Sifted. “We’re now in a stronger position to scale our operations, enhance our technology, and reach more farmers with better market access.”
Also based in North Africa, Dabchy is a Tunisian-founded online marketplace for second-hand fashion that is expanding into lifestyle goods. With over 750,000 users and 4 million listed items, the platform is promoting circular fashion in a region where over 70% of clothing is imported, and sustainable alternatives remain scarce.
“This investment will help us strengthen our presence in Tunisia, expand responsibly in Egypt, and explore new markets,” said Ameni Mansouri, Dabchy’s co-founder. “We’re committed to making pre-loved items accessible to more people, while empowering women across our platform.”
In a region where women founders receive a disproportionately small share of venture capital, this deal is emblematic of a slow but steady shift in strategy among development-minded investors.
In MENA, only 8.7% of total venture funding in 2024 went to startups with mixed-gender teams, according to research by Wamda. In Pakistan, women-led startups saw their funding share fall from 34% in 2021 to just 8% in 2022, per data from Invest2Innovate.
Standard Chartered’s role is more than symbolic. “Empowering women is critical to sustainable economic growth,” said Regina Mukiri, the bank’s Regional Head of Community Impact and Engagement for Africa, the Middle East, and Pakistan. “We’re committed to addressing structural barriers to funding through this facility and beyond.”
The third investee, BeMe, is a Pakistan-based digital mental health platform that provides round-the-clock access to culturally relevant therapy. The startup is targeting the country’s severe shortage of mental health professionals, especially for the Pakistani diaspora.
“Sharmeen, Ameni, and Farah are building businesses that respond to real-world gaps — mental health access, fashion sustainability, and small farm viability,” added Storton. “Their lived experiences have shaped ventures that are not only viable, but deeply necessary.”
Since launching in 2009, Village Capital has backed nearly 1,800 startups, funnelling over $7.5 billion in follow-on capital through its affiliated funds and network. The group’s focus on peer selection and ecosystem development has won praise for democratising access to venture funding — particularly in underserved markets.
Its partnership with Standard Chartered represents a strategic shift toward integrating philanthropy with impact investment — a growing trend as financial institutions aim to make ESG metrics more tangible.
For now, the investment remains early-stage. But for founders like Emara and Mansouri, it’s a stepping stone toward something larger: a more inclusive innovation ecosystem that recognises and rewards women’s contributions to tech and entrepreneurship.