Karim Beguir is the co-founder and CEO of InstaDeep, a Tunisia/Africa-born company that grew into a global deep-tech AI powerhouse and got acquired by german biotech giant BioNTech for $700m.Timestamps:00:00 - In this episode00:53 - Introduction01:42 - Modeling protein folding with AI08:26 - Solving combinatorial optimization with AI12:58 - Identifying upcoming COVID variants with AI17:06 - Curing cancer with mRNA and AI?20:19 - Consulting model vs VC-backed startup?22:11 - From academic curiosity to commercialization24:30 - Overcoming the disadvantage of building from Africa27:09 - The upside of building from Africa29:01 - The reasoning behind partnering with BioNTech31:30 - Raising a Series C or getting acquired?35:01 - Preserving InstaDeep's DNA post-acquisition36:19 - Staying grounded despite fame, money, success37:43 - Making a lot of money messes with your brain?40:21 - What does Karim wanna do now?42:08 - Africa's role in the AI race45:59 - Karim's mistake46:55 - Karim's hardest decision47:21 - Karim's favorite (non-famous) founder47:42 - How to allocate a $100m investment in African tech?50:07 - Advice to African founders building in deep techReferences:Karim's book: 'LEAPFROG' - https://www.amazon.com/LEAPFROG-Building-Africas-Future-Era-ebook/dp/B0F2JBYB8DInstaDeep's research portal - https://instadeep.com/research/Nature Machine Intelligence's feature - https://www.nature.com/natmachintell/volumes/7/issues/6Listen on all platforms:Youtube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TheRallyCapPodcastSpotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3vUDH5yEH6pvRkqM1TVaxS⁠Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rally-cap-podcast/id1731710244⁠Where to find Karim:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karim-beguir-2350161/X/Twitter: https://x.com/kbeguirWhere to find Kyane:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyanekassiriX/Twitter: https://twitter.com/kyanekassiriLearn more about Rally Cap: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/05/rali_cap-gets-backing-from-global-vcs-and-launches-30m-fintech-fund-for-emerging-markets/

Hisham Halbouny is a managing partner at P1 Ventures, a $50m Africa-focused fund who's often referred to as contrarian. Hisham was previously a partner at Man Capital, the family office of Egyptian Billionaire Mohamed Mansour where he invested in Uber, Airbnb, Spotify, Bolt, and more.Timestamps:00:00 - In this episode00:36 - Introduction01:13 - Investing in Uber/Airbnb/Spotify03:16 - Going all-in on Africa06:20 - Global VCs have pulled back, yet the timing is right07:43 - DFIs as the default LPs for African VC?08:54 - Tailoring the VC model for Africa?13:03 - P1's investment thesis16:33 - Personal evolution as an investorReferences:P1 Ventures - https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/26/pan-african-contrarian-investor-p1-ventures-reaches-25m-first-close-for-its-second-fund/Man Capital - https://www.man-capital.com/DFIs coming to the rescue - https://techcabal.com/2023/06/05/role-of-dfis-in-africa-ecosystem/Listen on all platforms:Youtube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TheRallyCapPodcastSpotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3vUDH5yEH6pvRkqM1TVaxS⁠Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rally-cap-podcast/id1731710244⁠Where to find Hisham:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hisham-halbouny-7a5ba23/Where to find Kyane:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyanekassiriX/Twitter: https://twitter.com/kyanekassiriLearn more about Rally Cap: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/05/rali_cap-gets-backing-from-global-vcs-and-launches-30m-fintech-fund-for-emerging-markets/

Karim Jouini is the founder of Expensya, an expense management platform sold to Medius Group for $100m. Karim is now building his second company called ThunderCode: an AI testing agent for software teams.Timestamps:00:00 - In this episode01:58 - Introduction02:59 - Missing PMF, SMB sucks, pivot to mid-market06:03 - Brex, Ramp, & copycats in Africa/LatAm/Asia10:31 - Karim's new AI company16:55 - Expensya: industry evolution, black swan event25:42 - Selling to corporates, build vs. buy, competition 31:01 - North star metrics, improvising, burn-outs, failed PoC38:45 - What takes you to $3m ARR won't take you to $10m ARR43:49 - Decision to sell, acquisition process, price discovery, etc49:37 - Secrets behind "Build locally, sell globally" [Tunisian playbook]54:32 - Personal: Making a lot of money... & building again References:Expensya's acquisition - https://www.medius.com/news/cid-B5994B54FD438614/media-alert-medius-completes-acquisition-of-expense-management-firm-expensya/Brex exists SMB space - https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/17/as-brex-exits-the-smb-space-its-ceo-says-that-doesnt-include-startups-at-least-the-funded-ones/What would Google Do? https://aszapla.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/what-would-google-do.pdfListen on all platforms:Youtube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TheRallyCapPodcastSpotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3vUDH5yEH6pvRkqM1TVaxS⁠Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rally-cap-podcast/id1731710244⁠Where to find Karim:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karimjouini/X/Twitter: https://x.com/karim_jouiniWhere to find Kyane:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyanekassiriX/Twitter: https://twitter.com/kyanekassiriLearn more about Rally Cap: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/05/rali_cap-gets-backing-from-global-vcs-and-launches-30m-fintech-fund-for-emerging-markets/

Melvyn Lubega is a Partner at Breega, one of Europe's fastest-growing VC firms ($700m) which recently launched its first Africa-dedicated fund.

This episode was recorded in October 2023.

Timestamps:

00:00 - In this episode

00:50 - Introduction

01:53 - From founder, to angel, then VC

04:37 - Growing Go1 to a $3b edtech giant

07:15 - Breega's DNA and its expansion into Africa

09:47 - Global funds' common mistake in Africa

12:48 - (some funny part)

14:38 - Uganda and the curse of tiny markets

16:51 - This model was doomed to fail1

9:13 - Here's where I see the next opportunity

References:

Go1 - https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/06/go1-nabs-100m-at-a-2b-valuation-to-upgrade-its-curated-enterprise-learning-platform/

Numida - https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/28/yc-backed-fintech-numida-raises-12-3m-led-by-serena-ventures-to-extend-loans-to-msmes-beyond-uganda/

B2B e-com struggling in Africa - https://restofworld.org/2023/africa-b2b-ecommerce-shutdowns-layoffs/

Listen on all platforms:

Youtube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TheRallyCapPodcast

Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3vUDH5yEH6pvRkqM1TVaxS⁠

Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rally-cap-podcast/id1731710244

⁠Where to find Melvyn:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mlbg/X/Twitter: https://x.com/MelvynLubega

Where to find Kyane:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyanekassiriX/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kyanekassiri

Learn more about Rally Cap: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/05/rali_cap-gets-backing-from-global-vcs-and-launches-30m-fintech-fund-for-emerging-markets/

Wael Nafee is a General Partner at Raed Ventures, the leading Saudi early-stage VC firm with $450m in AUM.This episode was recorded in October 2023.

Timestamps:00:00 - In this episode00:49 - Introduction01:51 - Careem and Deeptech background06:00 - Identifying exceptional founders08:33 -  Portfolio risk-reward modeling tool for VCs09:48 - Better returns or more management fees?12:42 - Egyptian tech exodus15:31 - We were wrong about this model18:52 - Does MENA have any role to play in AI?20:23 - LPs in 2023/2024 are different22:01 - Next milestone: unlocking IPOsReferences:Raed’s open-sourced VC modeling tool - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/modeling-vc-investment-strategies-wael-nafee/Careem's acquisition - https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelleevans1/2019/03/26/meet-careem-ubers-3-1-billion-new-acquisition-in-the-middle-east/Tunisian Startup Act - https://www.abramundi.org/post/the-tunisian-startup-act-an-entrepreneurial-revolutionListen on all platforms:Youtube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TheRallyCapPodcastSpotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3vUDH5yEH6pvRkqM1TVaxS⁠Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rally-cap-podcast/id1731710244⁠Where to find Wael:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wael-nafee-2b78abbX/Twitter: https://x.com/wnafeeWhere to find Kyane:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyanekassiriX/Twitter: https://twitter.com/kyanekassiriLearn more about Rally Cap: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/05/rali_cap-gets-backing-from-global-vcs-and-launches-30m-fintech-fund-for-emerging-markets/

Jacques Marco is the founder and CEO of Axis Pay. The company raised a $8m seed round and is now one of Egypt's fastest-growing fintechs.

Amir Farha is a prominent figure in MENA VC. Having previously co-founded the first and largest early-stage VC firm in the region [BECO Capital, $500m AUM].

Timestamps:(1:49) Building a second VC firm(3:02) What does 'strong founder' even mean?(4:29) Investing in underdogs(6:15) Aren't we all improvising?(7:05) The evolution of Amir 1.0, Amir 2.0, Amir 3.0(11:18) Aren't VCs just monetizing access?(13:26) Raising $50m as a solo-GP(15:16) KSA/UAE/Egypt, too many startups, beyond the VC model(17:57) Unconventional founder moves in nascent markets

(20:34) Unhealthy obsession: psychological cost of succeeding in VC?

References:

COTU Ventures - https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/26/cotu-ventures-launches-54m-fund-for-pre-seed-and-seed-startups-in-mena/

Beco Capital - https://alphapartners.com/news/2017/01/beco-capital-supporting-technology-revolution-middle-east/
Huspy - https://www.entrepreneur.com/en-ae/entrepreneurs/uae-based-proptech-startup-huspy-raises-us37-million-in/431307

Kitopi - https://www.kitopi.com/post/kitopi-announces-415-million-series-c-funding-round

Listen on all platforms:

Youtube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TheRallyCapPodcast

Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3vUDH5yEH6pvRkqM1TVaxS⁠

Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rally-cap-podcast/id1731710244⁠

Where to find Amir:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirfarha/

Where to find Kyane:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyanekassiri/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/kyanekassiri

Learn more about Rally Cap: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/05/rali_cap-gets-backing-from-global-vcs-and-launches-30m-fintech-fund-for-emerging-markets/ 

Check out our Climate Newsletter:  https://rallycapclimate.medium.com/

Tamer Azer is a partner at Shorooq Partners, a prominent VC firm in MENA.

Johan Bosini is a partner at Quona Capital, a $800 million pan-emerging-markets fintech VC firm.

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3vUDH5yEH6pvRkqM1TVaxS

Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rally-cap-podcast/id1731710244

Enrique Martinez-Hausmann is a principal at Speedinvest, a €1 billion European VC firm, with a stellar track record in Africa, the Middle East, and emerging markets at large.