Middle to East Innovation Fund
Snapshot
Fund Type: Venture Capital
Fund Size: $50MM
Investment Stage: Series A and Series B
Geographic Focus: Middle East, North Africa, and Asia
Sector Focus: Food & Agriculture, Energy Management, Biodiversity Restoration, Sustainable Supply Chains, Climate Risk Management and Climate FinTech
Fund Overview
The Middle to East Climate Innovation Fund is the first fund focused on climate resilience across the MENA-Asia corridor (the new digital green road) led by a culturally and gender diverse, mission-driven, and values-aligned local team. This early-stage venture capital fund is dedicated towards advancing climate solutions in and for MENA and Asia, backing local founders who are leveraging the power of technology as a multiplier for positive environmental impact at scale and supporting these economies in the green transition.
The Fund is co-managed by VentureSouq, a leading thematic early-stage tech investor based in the UAE, and IMM, one of the leading multi-asset alternative investment firms in Asia, with a focus on venture capital, growth equity, and infrastructure.
Why We Invested
The Fund takes a holistic and integrated approach to climate and gender, woven throughout its investment process. The fund applies an implicit gender lens and brings deep commitment, intentionality, and authenticity to embedding gender and broader DEI considerations at both the fund and portfolio company levels. There is strong representation of women across the portfolio, particularly among female founders, women in leadership and governance roles, and through talent development initiatives within portfolio companies.They have invested team capacity in deepening their gender focus, especially via technical assistance programming.
The Fund is led by a gender and culturally-diverse team, each with a demonstrated track record in investment and value creation. It invests entirely in scalable climatetech solutions that reduce harm, restore biodiversity, and support climate adaptation. At both the fund level and across VentureSouq, women play a critical role — from founding partners and top management to portfolio company leaders and investors.
Women as Agents of Change
The fund embraces a clear and intentional ‘Women as Agents of Change’ thesis across its investment strategy. The fund promotes female representation in leadership and governance roles and encourages women’s entry into traditionally male-dominated sectors like energy and science. The fund recognizes women as key decision-makers in households and early adopters of new products and services. It also builds relationships with women in corporate sustainability roles to support pipeline and exit opportunities.
An example of this is Orbillion bio, a B2B cultivated meat technology company, powered by a game-changing algorithm for cultivated meat. Its co-founder and CEO Patricia Bubner, is a chemical engineer and biopharma expert that exemplifies conscious and inclusive leadership. She is building a diverse team tackling sustainable beef protein production, a major food security challenge. Patricia’s ability to innovate, secure funding from top VCs, and foster a safe, nurturing culture is reflected in a board that’s 50% female. Despite limited resources, her team has achieved outstanding lab results and gained strong industry interest. Notably, 40% of their deeptech roles are held by women. In September 2023 Orbillion also successfully conducted a 200-liter production run in Singapore within an unprecedented timeframe.
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