The latest seed funding round for CleanMob, a French smart fleet management startup founded by Moroccan brothers Salah and Khalil El Hajji, has further highlighted a growing trend: North African venture capital firms are increasingly targeting startups led by emigrant entrepreneurs who straddle European tech ecosystems and their home markets.
CleanMob’s €1.3 million raise, backed by BPI France, Moroccan VC firms CDG Invest’s 212Founders and MNF Ventures, as well as Tremplin Capital, is emblematic of a broader investment strategy among Moroccan VCs. The startup, which uses AI and virtual sensors to optimize fleet operations, is part of Station F’s prestigious Future 40 cohort — a nod to its potential. But beyond its technology, CleanMob’s appeal lies in its founders’ dual roots: technical expertise honed in France (ENSEEIHT, IFP School, ESSEC) and a natural foothold in Morocco’s emerging tech scene.
Morocco’s investor class is no longer content with purely local bets. Funds like MITC Capital (Maroc Numeric Fund II which manages MNF Ventures), UM6P Ventures, and Al Mada Ventures have widened their mandates to explicitly target diaspora-led startups, particularly those with operations or scalability potential in North Africa.
Last year, a consortium including CDG Invest and Kalys VC injected $2.4 million into Userguest, an Amsterdam-based hotel SaaS firm with Moroccan founders. Similarly, MITC Capital backed Paris-based Upfund also founded by Moroccans abroad. The logic is clear: these founders combine global networks and technical rigor with cultural fluency in Maghrebi markets. MITC Capital itself has been burned by several losses incurred due to the failures of its local portfolio startups.
“The diaspora sometimes discloses a unique pattern,” says a VC from Casablanca who wishes to stay anonymous. “Morocco is Europe’s neighbor so it mostly makes sense from that perspective. Again, these founders already have firm grasps on European regulatory frameworks. Most have cost-effective R&D teams, just across the the Strait of Gibraltar, back home.”
The “Local-to-Global” Playbook
The model isn’t new, but its execution is maturing. Journify, a privacy-tech startup co-founded by Moroccans in Europe, serves clients like TikTok and Google while maintaining a Casablanca engineering hub. Spore.Bio, a French deeptech firm with Moroccan founder Amine Raji, raised $31 million despite minimal physical presence in Morocco — yet its success is celebrated locally as a validation of diaspora potential.
Exit precedents have further fueled interest. Tunisian-led Instadeep’s $680 million acquisition by BioNTech in 2023 and Expensya’s nine-figure exit proved that Maghrebi founders can deliver globally competitive returns. For risk-averse regional investors, backing emigrant entrepreneurs mitigates two concerns: market size limitations and execution risk.
The Brain Drain Paradox
Yet the trend raises questions. While VCs tout “brain circulation,” skeptics argue that many diaspora startups remain functionally offshore, with limited local economic impact. Over 3,000 Tunisian engineers leave annually for Europe, where salaries are 2.5x higher — a drain not fully offset by remote hiring.
“The risk is like a brain drain in the virtual world,” shares a founder from Rabat who wishes to remain anonymous. “While founders are drawing capital from Moroccan funds, they often focus on scaling their businesses in Europe. Unfortunately, the jobs created overseas don’t always lead to any real industrial growth back home.”
For now, investors are doubling down. UM6P Ventures’ recent Station F outpost — NextAfrica — explicitly scouts for diaspora talent. CleanMob’s El Hajji brothers, like many peers, exemplify the archetype: leveraging French infrastructure and Moroccan engineering talent (the startup’s 2027 target: 50,000 connected vehicles) while attracting pan-European clients like Engie and La Poste’s Asten Santé.
The long-term test will be whether this model fosters sustainable ecosystems in Casablanca and Tunis — or merely becomes a footnote in Europe’s tech dominance. Either way, the chase is on.