How Fund Managers Can Use The GP Exit Canvas (Part II)

The GP Exit Canvas isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution—it’s a flexible, visual framework that adapts to different fund strategies, geographies, and market conditions. Here’s how fund managers across various contexts can implement the GP Exit Canvas for successful exits.

Part I: The GP Exit Canvas: Strategic Exit Planning for Venture Capital Firms: the story of Kilimanjaro Ventures (read part I first)

For Early-Stage Funds

Micro VCs and Pre-Seed Funds: Your exit timelines are longer, but your influence on exit preparation is often highest. Use the Pre-Deal Assessment to identify companies with clear paths to Series A funding and beyond. Focus your Key Documents section on ensuring clean cap tables and founder-friendly terms that won’t complicate future fundraising. Your Exit Network should emphasize relationships with later-stage VCs who could provide secondary liquidity.

Series A Funds: You have the sweet spot of influence and timeline alignment. Your Exit Strategy BOD Days should focus heavily on building enterprise value and market position. Use Mapped Out Exit Paths to balance strategic acquisition possibilities with IPO preparation for your highest-potential investments. Your Exit Team should include someone with public company experience.

For Growth And Late-Stage Funds

Growth Equity Funds: Your exit timelines are compressed, making the Exit Committee and Exit Dealmaking components critical. Focus on companies that are already demonstrating clear paths to profitability and have addressed major scaling challenges. Your Exit Advisors network should include investment banks with strong sector expertise and track records in your target exit size range.

Pre-IPO Funds: The canvas becomes a checklist for public market readiness. Your Exit Strategy BOD Days should simulate board meetings of public companies. Exit Advisors should include auditors, underwriters, and public company executives. Your Exit Network needs to include institutional investors and research analysts.

For Sector-Specific Funds

Healthcare and Biotech Funds: Your Pre-Deal Assessment must include regulatory pathway analysis and IP landscape mapping. Exit paths typically center on strategic acquisitions by pharma companies or medical device manufacturers. Your Exit Network should include corporate development professionals at target acquirers, and your Exit Team needs regulatory expertise.

Enterprise Software Funds: Focus on recurring revenue quality and customer concentration in your Pre-Deal Assessment. Your Exit paths often include both strategic acquisition by larger software companies and potential public offerings. Exit Strategy BOD Days should emphasize metrics that matter to both strategic and financial buyers.

Climate and Impact Funds: Your exit considerations must balance financial returns with mission alignment. Use the Exit Committee to establish clear frameworks for evaluating offers that might compromise impact goals. Your Exit Network should include impact-focused strategics and values-aligned acquirers.

For Geographic-Specific Applications

Emerging Market Funds: Like Kilimanjaro Ventures, your Exit Network building becomes even more critical due to smaller pools of potential acquirers. Focus heavily on relationships with international strategics expanding into your markets. Your Exit Committee should include advisors with cross-border transaction experience.

European Funds: Leverage the strong M&A market and multiple exit jurisdictions. Your Mapped Out Exit Paths should consider both local and pan-European strategic buyers. Post-Brexit, include regulatory considerations in your Key Documents planning.

Asian Funds: Consider the unique exit landscape including strong strategic buyer appetite and active public markets. Your Exit Network should span both regional and international players, and your Exit Team should understand local market dynamics.

For Different Fund Sizes

$10-50M Funds: Focus on building repeatable processes that don’t require large teams. Your Exit Team might be just one partner, but ensure they have strong external advisor relationships. Use the Exit Network strategically—you can’t cover every potential buyer, so focus on the most active acquirers in your sectors.

$100M+ Funds: You can afford specialized roles and sophisticated exit planning. Consider dedicated exit partners or principals. Your Exit Advisors can include multiple investment banks for different transaction sizes. Use your scale to host larger industry events that bring together multiple potential acquirers.

$500M+ Mega Funds: Your exit planning needs to consider market impact and public market readiness for your largest positions. Your Exit Committee should include public market investors. Consider hiring former investment bankers or corporate development executives full-time.

Customization Guidelines

Adapt the Timeline: Early-stage funds might plan 7-10 year exit horizons, while growth funds might focus on 2-4 years. Adjust your Exit Strategy BOD Day frequency and urgency accordingly.

Scale the Network: Smaller funds should focus on deeper relationships with fewer potential acquirers. Larger funds can cast wider nets but need systems to manage relationships systematically.

Modify the Documentation: Your Key Documents section should reflect your typical deal terms and structures. Growth equity deals have different exit consideration than seed investments.

Adjust Committee Structure: Solo GPs might have external advisors serve exit committee roles. Large funds might have dedicated exit committees for different portfolio segments.

Implementation Roadmap

Month 1: Complete Pre-Deal Assessment for your three most promising current investments. Identify gaps in your exit knowledge and planning.

Month 2: Audit your Key Documents across the portfolio. Identify any structural impediments to future exits and plan to address them.

Month 3: Schedule Exit Strategy BOD Days for your top five investments over the next six months.

Month 4: Map out detailed exit paths for your most mature investments. Begin building target acquirer relationships.

Month 5: Establish relationships with 2-3 investment banks and transaction attorneys in your focus areas.

Month 6: Formalize your internal Exit Team roles and external Exit Committee structure.

The key to successful implementation is starting small and building systematically. Choose one element of the canvas to focus on each quarter, rather than trying to implement everything simultaneously. The canvas works best when it becomes integrated into your fund’s standard operating procedures, not treated as a separate project.

Remember that the GP Exit Canvas isn’t about predicting the future—it’s about creating the conditions for successful exits when opportunities arise. By building these capabilities systematically, fund managers can transform exit planning from a reactive scramble into a proactive competitive advantage.

Key Lessons For GP Teams

The GP Exit Canvas reveals several critical insights for venture capital firms:

Exit planning isn’t separate from investment strategy—it is investment strategy. The most successful VCs think backward from liquidity events when making investment decisions.

Systematic beats sporadic. Funds that build repeatable processes for exit planning consistently outperform those that approach each exit as a unique event.

Relationships matter more than financial engineering. The most valuable exits come from authentic relationships with strategic buyers built over years, not months.

Multiple paths create optionality. Funds that develop multiple exit scenarios for each investment can optimize timing and valuation when opportunities arise.

Internal capabilities accelerate external opportunities. Building exit expertise within the fund team pays dividends across the entire portfolio.

Implementing The Canvas

For GPs looking to implement the Exit Canvas approach, start with your next investment decision. Before you commit capital, work through each element of the canvas. Identify potential exit paths, map out required relationships, and build exit considerations into your investment structure.

The goal isn’t to predict exactly how each investment will exit—it’s to ensure you’ve created the conditions for successful exits when opportunities arise.

The most successful venture capital firms don’t just pick winners; they systematically create the conditions for winning exits. The GP Exit Canvas provides the framework for building that systematic approach into every aspect of your fund’s operations.

In the rapidly evolving venture landscape, LPs increasingly evaluate GPs not just on their ability to identify promising startups, but on their track record of creating successful liquidity events. The GP Exit Canvas ensures that exit strategy thinking becomes a core competency, not an afterthought.

For emerging market funds like our fictional Kilimanjaro Ventures (read the post), this systematic approach becomes even more critical. With smaller pools of potential acquirers and less developed exit markets, the discipline of the GP Exit Canvas can mean the difference between a successful fund and one that struggles to return capital to LPs.

The framework works because it transforms exit planning from a discrete event into an ongoing strategic capability. And in venture capital, capabilities compound over time into competitive advantages that drive superior returns for LPs and successful outcomes for entrepreneurs.

Read also part I: the story of Kilimanjaro Ventures.

A big thanks to Rosanne Whalley , AHL Venture Partners and Daniel Keiper-Knorr, Speedinvest for the conversations and webinars that led to the development of the GP Exit Canvas.

July 4, 2025/0 Comments/by Christian Rangen

Insights, Venture Capital

Evolving Malaysia’s VC Ecosystem: A Response To The great Mavcap Misfire

VC ecosystems around the world are maturing at different pace, each with its own set of challenges and dynamics. But the views articulated in The great Mavcap misfire (Emmanuel Samarathisa) come across as both flawed and based on the wrong underlying assumptions on how an emerging VC ecosystem actually works.

Here are my quick thoughts in response.

The Malaysian Context

Malaysia, like many other developing countries around the world has recognized the importance of shifting from a agriculture- and manufacturing economy and increasingly to a professional services and innovation-powered economy. By extension, this also means supporting and scaling startups, hopefully seeing them mature into major scale ups and eventually pillars of the national economy.

But, ever since these conversations started, Malaysia has lagged behind regional innovation hubs, with Singapore being the leading player. To deal with the growth challenges, several Malaysian governments have launched various initiatives to support the growth and development of the Malaysian startup scene, including:

– Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC)

– Klang Valley region – the Silicon Valley of Kuala Lumper (a vast stretch target)

– MavCap & Cradle Fund

– MDEC

– The formation of MaGIC – Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Center

– KL20

– Malaysia Venture Capital Roadmap (MVCR)- with a goal to increase VC penetration rate to 0.25%-0.35% of GDP by 2030

(For full transparency, the author was a strategic advisor to MaGIC back in 2016-2019)

From Startups To Capital

Against this backdrop, we then need to examine the maturity of the venture financing ecosystem – and this is where the Malaysianist and the piece The great Mavcap misfire might be missing a few key points.

Transparency In The Market

In researching the article, the author has been able to access documents showing fund-level returns, based on Mavcap data. This is excellent and should be applauded. We recommend all government linked fund-of-funds to be openly sharing fund performance data on a regular basis. Kudos to the author for getting hands on and sharing the data.

What’s The Mission Of A National, Government-Linked Fund-Of-Funds?

MavCap (now, Jelawang), like any national fund-of-fund has a three-way mission.

1. Develop the local VC ecosystem (see our research on VC ecosystem)

2. Invest and back local and national fund managers (often, emerging managers)

3. Secure ‘attractive’ returns from the investments

The primary purpose of a national fund-of-fund is not to attain above-market returns. If that was the primary goal, there are many better asset classes, including buying real estate in Singapore or buying a pool of US listed equities, like Apple, Microsoft and Meta.

Instead, the national fund-of-fund strategy has a broad mission to develop the market, develop the ecosystem for long-term competitiveness. On this picture, fund managers is just one small part of the equation. Available growth capital, access to Limited Partners, professional service providers and a rich menu of exit paths are all equally important pieces in the VC ecosystem’s maturity.

The VC Ecosystem: Built on 8 key pillars (Rangen, 2024)

Where Does Malaysia’s VC Ecosystem Sit?

When we work with national fund-of-funds, we often start by a basic assessment of ‘where are we today’. Using the VC Ecosystem Maturity stages, we can quickly identify where the market is today, and where it would like to evolve into in the next 5-10 years.

Scaling VC Ecosystems Canvas, Rangen, 2024

Using this framework, we would assess Malaysia to set at level 2: Build.

At level 2: build, the VC investments sits around 0,2- 0,4% of GDP. The ecosystem is young and highly immature. Private allocators are not interested, as the market has historically failed to deliver any meaningful returns. The companies don’t scale, the fund managers are still learning and the exit paths are just not there. There might be some good, local companies, but they mostly move to Singapore or Silicon Valley, due to the lack of a local ecosystem.

The biggest LP investors in this category are international finance organizations, like IFC, World Bank or national governments through a wide range of government-backed fund-of-funds. At this stage, few actually expect the fund managers to return back much, but see this as investing into the long-term capacity and maturity of the market. There might be a few outlier deals, proving the evolution, but largely, at fund-levels, most funds underperform from a pure financial return point of view.

At level 2: Build, most of the capital that comes into the market is labelled as ‘catalytic’, or development purposes, rather than seeking above-market returns.

Often, this is misunderstood by the media, who will view any fund performance through the lens of a level 4: Perform or even level 5: Outperform lens, expecting outlier returns in a market that just has not grown to this stage yet.

Interpreting The Data

Reading The great Mavcap misfire, I believe the challenge comes on the interpretation and assumption side.

Here Are A Few Quick Facts:

– Ca. 50% of all VC funds will never return back 1X net DPI

– Ca. 20% of all VC funds will return back around 1X – 2X net DPI

– Ca. 20% of all VC funds will return back 2X – 3X net DPI

– Ca. 10% of all VC funds will return back at or above 3X net DPI

– Out of those, around 2% will return back the 5X – 10X or even 200X net DPI

For anyone investing into the venture asset class for commercial returns, they would need to secure allocation to the top 10%, ideally the top 2% of funds globally. Some great thoughts from our friends at VenCap on this subject. (A wall of capital coming, VC is really hard and Return of the Power Law)

Further Facts:

– Most VC funds need 12-16 years to see a full ‘seed-to-exit’ return profile. This is a challenge if funds are set up with 8-10 year timelines. This is simply too short

– For many funds, there is a window of ca. 1-2 years, from effective exit transaction in the market, to actual pay-out (DPI) back to LPs.

– For most, there is zero correlation between year 7 data and ultimate performance

– For most, there is zero correlation between year 7 DPI and ultimate DPI

– When assessing an active fund (which, given various extensions, might be 12+ years), we always need to look at multiple indicators to get the full picture. At a minimum, this would be called capital, MOIC, TVPI and net DPI.

Table of MavCap backed funds, from The Malaysianist.

So, What Does This Mean For The Great Mavcap Misfire?

The funds that are listed in The great Mavcap misfire seem to follow a pretty average distribution range.

There are a total of 14 funds, from 2013 to 2021 vintages. Two are listed as Divested or in current dissolution process. The remaining 12 are still actively managing their portfolios. Based on the available data, we can see that the DPI sits at 0 (to be expected by younger funds), 0.07 (Superseed I, 2016) up to 2.88 (Lunex Ventures, 2018). This looks like a perfectly normal range, with some not in DPI mode yet, some on the low end (very low end) and one early winner, Lunex.

But, This Dataset Is A Highly Incomplete Dataset And Zero Conclusions Should Be Drawn From This.

The reason: MOIC and TVPI. The table shows how much capital MavCap has put in (401,9M) and how much has been paid back (108,2). But, without knowing the MOIC and notably the TVPI, it is impossible to know how these 12 funds are actually performing.

Always Track TVPI And DPI

To illustrate the importance of adding a more complete dataset, I have created three scenarios below. Base case, bull case and bear case.

The Base case assumes a pretty normal GP fund performance in a level 2: Build VC ecosystem, allowing for some investments to happen in regional funds (including Singapore) and some to happen in global funds (with a certain allocation earmarked for Malaysia).

Three Examples When Adding TVPI

BASE CASE

In the base case, I have added 800M in total value (NAV + DPI) for the fund. The 800M would represent both the value of the current assets in the underlying funds, as well as the amount that has already been paid out to LPs. Note the vintage period here runs from 2013 to 2021, but would then extend all the way to 2033, to allow the last funds to dissolve. This would give us a 20-year total timeline. In the base case below, we see the TVPI at 1,99X, which would be at a low end, but within a reasonable range for a developing VC ecosystem.

BASE CASE: 2033 ALL FUNDS FULLY DIVESTED

In 2033, all the funds are liquidated, There would naturally be a mix of bankruptcies, write-offs, maybe some management buybacks, some secondaries with heavy discounts in order to liquidate, but the funds across the portfolio has managed to deliver back a 1,62X net DPI to its LPs. Considering the 20-year timeline, this would give us a low IRR (internal rate of return), but all told, LPS like MavCap would effectively get their money back, adjusted for inflation.

Base case, 20233, all funds divested, 1,62 DPI paid back

BULL CASE

In the bull case, we have assumed that the total value of the portfolio, including DPI is 1,8BN. This would be an aggressive mark-up vs. our base case. A 1,8BN would give us a TVPI of 4,48X.

BULL CASE: 2033 ALL FUNDS FULLY DIVESTED

By 2033, with all funds divested, the bull case would be able to pay out, in our example, a total of 980M cash-on-cash, for a 2,44X net DPI. Note the reduction from 1,8BN portfolio value to 980M in payouts. This would likely come from a heavy mark-down of assets, a willingness to take haircuts to achieve liquidity in secondary markets and finally all costs and fees for the fund managers. Still, for most LPs, a 2,44X net DPI would be pretty ok, even very strong for a national fund-of-fund with the triple mission we mentioned above.

BEAR CASE

Of course, the reality is that most VC funds underperform. That’s also the case in our bear case. Things just did not work out. The market did mature as expected. Most talent drifted off to Singapore. Most fund mangers were unable to find meaningful follow-on rounds. Most companies stalled and burned out. A mixture of culture, limited access to capital and weak boards led to significant write offs and mark downs. In short, it was a bloodbath in the market.

In this case, we list the assets at 250M (down from 1,8BN in the bull case). This would give the portfolio a TVPI of 0,62.

BEAR CASE: 2033 ALL FUNDS FULLY DIVESTED

Fast forward to 2033, bear case fully played out, the total exit value came to 200M. On an initial investment of 401,9M, this gives us a net DPI just below 0,5X. Financially, that would give us a 200M net loss. Yet, at the same time, considering the catalytic efforts to build out the VC market in Malaysia, the 200M could also be viewed as a net investment into the next generation of fund managers.

Venture Capital Is Hard – And Even Harder In Developing Markets

In my executive education programs on venture capital investing, I always start with a detailed walk through of how hard venture capital investing actually is. Sure, if you are located in the heart of Silicon Valley, have access to the top founders, top programs and top funds, including exit paths like Nasdaq and tech M&A’s, things might just be a little bit easier (but still hard).

But the reality, for most countries, national fund-of-funds and ecosystems is that venture capital investments are hard, really, really hard. Most startups will fail. Many will deliver small returns at best. For a fund to be successful, you need to capture at least 1 Dragon (fund returning investment), maybe even two.

For most of the world, to be able to support and grow a domestic entrepreneurship scene, we need venture capital – and we need much more of it. We simply can not scale startups, new company formation and new job creation without access to venture financing at scale. But no one should for a second think this is easy.

One of the most common phrases participants share in our VC Masterclasses is, “wow, I had no idea it was this hard” (to deliver sustainable returns over time. Well, it is. Let’s not be native about it, but rather work for the long-term to build out more robust VC ecosystems.

What’s Next For Malaysia?

In my work with Malaysia over the past 12 years, I have seen the ecosystem grow and mature. Yet, the country still has a long way to go, to reach its aspirations as a globally leading tech hub.

One step, maturing the VC ecosystem and support a far larger pool of VC firms and capital allocators.

To this effect, the Malaysia Venture Capital Roadmap (MVCR) is a solid piece of work, serving as a great example for other countries in a similar position.

In this conversation we need openness about fund performance, access to data set and we need journalists like Emmanuel Samarathisa to continue with their excellent reporting. But, we also need media to cover this topic with diligence, facts and insights, not assumptions and flawed data set.

I am excited about the future of the Malaysian startup ecosystem and seeing more successful startups, scale ups and fund managers emerge from this amazing country. Reflecting back on my recent trip exploring the VC ecosystem in MENA, I see a vast potential for Malaysia and the wider SE Asia region, but the VC ecosystem will need to continue to evolve – rapidly and professionally.

The author is a strategic advisor to national fund-of-funds, governments and VC ecosystems globally. He has taught a wide range of venture capital executive education programs, including at IMD and NVP. He has worked with 250+ emerging fund managers and regularly hosts VC Masterclasses. His upcoming report on Scaling VC ecosystems is aimed at helping all stakeholders better understand how to create more mature venture financing ecosystems around the world.

July 4, 2025/0 Comments/by Christian Rangen

Ecosystem, Insights

Scaling Up In Mena (Part II)

The Story Of Scaling Leo Bank From Idea To Exit In The Middle East. Part II: Scaling Up (Series A,B)

Case study written for the upcoming launch of Scale Up MENA! (Aug 2025). Read part I here and part III here.

Closing the series A has been tough. “This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done”, Adnan was bone tired. Leading the process, investor meetings, DD and final negotiations had been hard. But, the round had been a huge success, a new strategic investor was onboard, and the focus was now 100% on hitting the key revenue milestones. $10M revenue, $50M revenue and $100M revenue.

How long would that take?

Looking back, it was the workshop with DFDF that had laid the foundation for the Series A success. Navigating the Road to Series A was a series of workshops hosted by Dubai Future District Fund and AWS, delivered by Chris Rangen. That was one of the key perks of being located in Dubai. The ecosystem was strong, supportive and perfectly suited for fast-growing companies. Maheen and Adnan had both attended the workshop.

Initially, it was overwhelming. 5 phases, 43 unique steps to nail your Series A. It was a lot to take in, but wow!

Sure, Only 10% – 15% Of Companies Successful Make The Jump From Seed To Series A, But This Was A Tall Order Still.

The Funding Journey. 5 phases, 43 steps to nail your fundraising rounds

Adnan had taken three main points away from the workshop.

1. Set your fundraising team

2. Build your long investor list and investor CRM

3. Aim for five competing term sheets

(See Funding Journey for all 43)

Those three points had become their focus.

For the fundraising team, they discussed with the team and agreed. “Maheen and I will take six months, and only, only focus on closing our series A”. The others had agreed with some hesitation. The team had grown to 21 people by now, there was a lot of young talent on the team, but leadership was still needed. “Liz will take over as co-CEO”, Maheen had decided.

Your Funding Team. A key success factors to land your Series A and beyond

The best thing they ever did on the fundraising team was assign two of the data analyst to a skunk project. Together with Maheen and Adnan, the two analysts made up the fundraising team. In just two weeks they built an impressive AI-engine, allowing them to gather 2.400 investor prospects for the A-round. Analyzing track records and strategic fit, the list was cut down to 800. Analyzing capital for follow-on rounds and exit track record, the list was further reduced to 68 names.

Out of these 42 initial meetings took place. The one meeting in Singapore had really stood out. “We will sell your assets to a NewCo in Singapore, do a recapitalization, get rid of your old investors and then inject 500M in growth capital”, the Managing Partner had said. The meeting ended quickly.

In the US, many of the initial meetings centered on use of AI, roadmap to US IPO or downside protection. “It really seems like 3X liquidation preference participating is the new normal here. The valuations may be higher than back home, but the terms are harsh and demanding. Let’s try to find a investor group in MENA we can work with”, Maheen had said as they were flying back from a series of meetings in New York.

Fortunately, via Shorooq’s network, they had found multiple options for the A-round in the region,

Sure, the conversations, due diligence and term sheet discussions had taken months, but ultimately, they were down to three solid term sheet; still not the five they were targeting but still ok. With 800.000 users the user growth was strong, but revenue was still lagging. They had aimed for 3M revenue before closing, but the reality was closer to $2,1M; still some ways to go. This lower-than-forecast revenue, also came back to bite during term sheet discussions.

Three competing sets of terms sheets at Series A

Venture Souq’s Fintech Fund was supportive, and really wanted to get a deal done. “With your metrics, we can do $1M $8M pre, and really help connect you for larger, full series A in about 6 months time”.

The team at BECO had been incredibly supportive and their whitepaper “Strategy in AI’s Shifting Sands: A Venture Framework for MENA Value Creation” had grown into a manifesto for the AI team at Leo. “We would love to work with you, but the metrics you have today does not justify anything above $25M post”, Abdulaziz had stated. Famous for their views on there are only two venture-return size companies born in MENA every year, BECO did not have full conviction on Leo’s return potential yet.

In the end, a structured syndicate come together, co-led by Michael at Golden Gate Ventures, Medea at Global Ventures and Monk Hill taking a minor role. The terms landed on:

-$30M pre-money

– $10M round size, 4M from GGV, $4M from GV and $1,5M from MH.

– Two advisors were assigned a small allocation in the same round.

– 1X liquidation preference participating

– Reset of vesting for the founder team

“The Region’s Banking Favorite Secures Strong Series A”, Read The Press Release When The News Were Released During GITEX.

Cap Table, Post-Series A

Setting Up A Strategic Board

After closing the Series A, Omer had been clear on his recommendation. “We are going to set up a long-term, strategic board that can take us all the way”. The founders had not really seen the need. “We are doing fine”, Maheen had said.

But the investors were clear. A strong board will only help the team accelerate. It was agreed that the board would have two founder seats, Maheen and Adnan, two investor seats and one industry expert. James P. Gorman, former CEO of Stanley Morgan was elected Chairman of the Board after a three month search period.

Team Shake Up

The trouble had been brewing for a while. Maybe it was the stress from scaling from 800.000 users to 2,5M in just six months. Maybe it was just a consequence of having worked closely together for the past 3,5 years. Everyone had felt it, but no one had wanted to get into it.

Looking back, the fallout that followed was almost inevitable. “Listen, I have worked my butt off for years!”, Malik almost shouted. “No, you are not just leaving!”, Maheen replied. The stress, the lack of technical depth on the team, the demands of scaling towards a series B. The journey was not quite what Malik was expecting.

As the technical genius he had built the first generation of the platform, but the reality was that the first generation had just not been scalable. Maheen had spent months recruiting a technical team around him, only to realize that the tech stack they had built just was not very scalable. It had all come to head in one of the engineering team sessions. “So, you are telling me we have to rip out and replace our entire back end platform?”, Maheen had asked the Senior Platform Lead. He has just joined from Klarna, with previous CTO experience from two fintechs in London. The decision had been made. The entire platform was getting rebuilt, redesigned, restructured from scratch. That was the moment when Talik started drifting. He was no longer up to the task. His company had outgrown him. Probably, Maheen could have handled it then.

Weeks had gone by, when Malik broke the news. He had just accepted a role with Microsoft. He would be leaving within the week. He also announced, “I am taking my co-founder equity with me”. His departure from Leo Bank was quickly turning sour. Maheen felt a ting of panic. She had seen too many broken cap tables, with co-founders walking away with large equity positions, leaving the company uninvestable for upcoming rounds. “Foundational equity”, she thought. We have already covered this! She dug through the company files while calling her contact at Shorooq.

Sure enough, the initial foundational equity agreement the four had signed 3,5 years ago covered exactly this scenario. Any unvested shares, in the case of a founder leaving, would go back into the ESOP pool, to be allocated by the CEO. The vesting terms were even reset at Series A, with 7-year vesting and a 1-year cliff. The paperwork was all signed. Malik, it turned out, would be walking away with zero equity.

The next day, Maheen, Adnan sat down with Malik, back at their old Starbucks at the DIFC. “Listen, we don’t want to part ways on bad terms. You have worked hard, we all have, the last 3,5 years. Yet, we have a long, long way to go. We need to manage our cap table for long-term success”, Maheen had said. It took a few days, but in the end, the team agreed on a 1% equity post to Malik, and retain him as a senior advisor for the next 36 months. “Imagine, where would we have been if we did not have the foundational equity paperwork in place”, Adnan said as they closed the deal and parted way with Malik.

Cap Table – Updated Post-Malik’s Departure

Cap table, updated post one of the founders leaving. Thanks to good paperwork, the most of the equity went back into the ESOP.

Market Expansion: Where Do We Ramp Up Next?

“Which of the next markets should we expand into, and how soon?”, that was the question Liz had focused on the last six months.

Ever since they closed the Series A, the mantra was growth, growth and growth. But, more than just growth, her team had managed to build an incredible AI powered tech stack, turning her 25 people team into a 24/7 growth army. “With the new stack, we are automatic processes that would have taken us 3X as many people and months to complete. We have, maybe, the most native AI-GTM stack, by any startup in MENA”. Alex, her head of AI infrastructure had been a find!

She had poached him from OpenAI during one of the OpenAI ecosystem events. He was, it turned out, an AI engineering genius. The team used AWS SageMaker as the core. On the customer facing side, tools like Segment, 6sense, Clay Brand24, Jasper.ai, WhatsApp Business API, Phantombuster, Voiceflow, Madkudu Clearbit, Synthesia and Revenue.io were built into a 24/7 growth engine. “This thing is getting smarter by the minute”, Alex had said during one of their working sessions. Alex had recruited a deeptech team from AWS, Salesforce, OpenAI and Anthropic to build out a new kind of automation ecosystem for Leo.

Using this system, Leo was now able to expand flawlessly across MENA. The system even recognized different regulations in different markets and instantly adapted the platform in line with these regulations. The same had started happening by segments, were people were increasingly seeing a highly, highly personalized version of the platform, from first prospecting touchpoint all the way through daily usage.

Revenue Growth

“How do we build a successful ARR engine to get us to 100M revenue and beyond?”, that was one of the nine questions Maheen had drawn up when they started. Liz, together with Alex and the deeptech team had built just that.

On The MENA Startup Show, Liz had called this “Our beautiful, hyper scaling engine”. Well, the engine had allowed Leo to blitz scale, from 800.000 users to 2,5M users, and now rapidly approaching 5,5M users, in just 12 months. Revenue was starting to pick up, and the finance team was forecasting a robust 35M revenue for the year, looking at $75M next year.

“This is what blitscaling feels like”, Maheen had said during an all-hands meeting.

Leo Bank’s three remaining founders on stage for the monthly all hands meeting. As the company grew to 85, then 120, then again 200+ employees, leadership and culture become a far bigger challenge than the team was ready for

Momentum Going Into Series B

“We need to think about our Series B as stepping stones into the world of large capital allocators”, James had said during a board meeting. Maheen knew he was right.

Thanks to the investor CRM and AI automation they had built for the Series A, and the work the Investor Relations team had been doing, sending monthly updates, taking regular check in calls, hosting investor roundtables in different cities and regularly taking deep dive sessions with the target prospects, the round came together in record time. Sure, they now had 4.800 names in the investor CRM, but there was only a handful that that would really like to work with.

In the end, the team had two competing term sheets, from Wamda Capital and MEVP. Both of them solid investors that could structure rounds from late seed to Series B.

Two competing term sheets from two great Super Investors, Wamda Capital and MEVP. In Scale Up MENA, you will meet and navigate 100’s of competing investors and term sheets. Are you able to unpack the terms here?

Cap Table Post Series B

The Series B deal was a big step up in valuation, taking the company from $40M last post in the Series A, to $300M pre-money for the B. Wamda showed high conviction with a $40M investment, and Golden Gate Ventures, Global Ventures and Monk Hill all followed on with 500.000 each, as per the term sheet requiring three participating co-investors. Management also issued Team SPV #2, with 4.000 shares to the team, who was now quickly growing towards 85 people across four offices. The strike price was set at a 100, instantly giving the staff a 12x multiple on their investment. Of course, the shares were only available on a 7-year vesting schedule with a 1-year cliff, virtually locking in talent to stay with Leo Bank.

Now, The Stage Was Set For The Next Growth Phase. Could The Team Take Leo Bank Past Tabby’s Explosive Growth?

Could they hit 15M users and $500M revenue?

Was there a $1BN, a $3BN valuation on the horizon?

Could they find the growth hacks to scale past Careem’s $3,1BN exit?

Part III: Growth Stage (Series C,D To Exit)

“What does your outcome canvas look like?”, the question from the investment team at Oman Future fund had taken the founders aback. Outcome? Canvas? In exploring a lead candidate for the Series C, it was clear that the conversations, the expectations and the strategic thinking was going to be a big step up from the conversations they had back at Series A. “Are you aiming to list in Riyadh, London or the US?” …. (read part III here ).

Part I: The Early Days (Start Up Phase, Seed)

“There is absolutely a market for new, innovative banking solutions in the region”, Malik said. Sitting at the Starbucks at the DIFC in Dubai, the four friends were deep in discussion about their new startup idea. The discussion had been simmering for nearly two years, but really picked up in the last four weeks…. (read full part I here)

Scale Up Mena!

In Scale Up MENA! you and your team members step into the shoes of a founder team in MENA. You select amongst 30+ case companies. Your task: scale your new case company from an early idea to a successful exit, while also competing with 3 to 20+ other teams, all trying to outcompete and outrace you. Along the way, manage the nine building blocks Maheen identified early on, raise multiple rounds of financing, accelerate revenue velocity, scale with AI tools and try to outcompete the likes of Careem and Tabby. Are you up for it? Are you ready to Scale Up In MENA!?

Globally, more than 3.500 founders, investors and ecosystem builders have mastered cap tables, growth strategy and exits with Scale Up! Now, for the first time, we are ready to launch a 100% MENA version.

Scale Up MENA! From Idea to Exit is one of the world’s leading methods to accelerate a startup’s successful growth journey. The Scale Up MENA! Masterclass is designed to help founders understand how to lead through the founder’s journey, from idea to ultimate exit.

Handle early-strategy, product development, AI, SAFE notes, local accelerators, venture financing, market expansion, ARR growth, growth financing, market leadership and exit transaction – all based on real content from across the MENA region.

Launching August 2025. Learn more.

July 4, 2025/0 Comments/by Christian Rangen

Ecosystem, Insights

Scaling Up In Mena (Part III)

The Story Of Scaling Leo Bank From Idea To Exit In The Middle East. Part III: Growth Stage (Series C,d To Exit)

A three-part story on scaling a fintech in the Middle East, written as a part of the upcoming launch of Scale Up MENA, august 2025. Read part I: the early days (start up, seed): and part II: scaling up (Series A,B)

“What Does Your Outcome Canvas Look Like?”, The Question From The Investment Team At Future Fund Oman Had Taken The Founders Aback. Outcome? Canvas?

In exploring a lead candidate for the Series D, it was clear that the conversations, the expectations and the strategic thinking was going to be a big step up from the conversations they had back at Series A. “Are you aiming to list in Riyadh, London or the US?”.

“Do you have the exit paths ready in your data room?”, the associate had asked over and over again. The truth was, they did not. Not yet.

Series C Led By PIF

Six months earlier.

“Another unicorn minted in MENA”, read the LinkedIn posts, as Leo Bank hit the coveted $1BN valuation mark.

The Series C had come together pretty quickly as well. Public Investment Fund had gotten introduced via the team at Wamda Capital. There was a clear strategic match, and PIF was incredibly supportive on backing a strong growth story.

PIF had proposed a $100M round or a mega $500M round, for 25% ownership. The $500M was simply too much capital, and the board decided to go for the $100M for 10%. There were some demanding terms, and it took a few weeks to negotiate out some of the most challenging terms, but they got it done.

Cap Table Post Series C, With PIF

Cap table post Series C, PIF’s team also corrected the new reality for Malik’s PPs, at $50,- effective

Market Expansion, Market Expansion

The new capital from PIF had been used for market expansion, both to strengthen the position across MENA as well as launching in key, new markets like Singapore, India and Pakistan. “Rest is not an option, we need to grow, grow, grow”, was the new mantra across the growth teams.

Dealing With Massive Scaling Challenges

“Being a seed company is easy, trying to scale is a whole different game”, Liz was getting worn down. Leading the new market expansion, she was the one spearheading all market- and revenue work.

Her role as CRO had taken on a whole new level of complexity. Managing 590 people, she realized she no longer could work the way she and her teams had so far. New structures, processes and procedures were needed, and needed fast. “At this pace, I am going to run into a brick wall”, she had shared with Adnan and Maheen during one of their 5 am morning runs.

Closing Series D With Future Fund Oman

The first introduction to Future Fund Oman had come through their board member from PIF, Omar. Having worked in multiple family offices and now in a senior investment role at PIF, he was deeply connected across the region. Future Fund Oman, was in Omar’s view, the perfect growth-stage investor for Leo Bank.

Over a series of meetings, Adnan and the team came to understand the methodology and investment process Future Fund Oman applied. The Outcome Canvas, or Outcome scenario analysis, or just sensitivity analysis, this was a must-have for the 12-person investment team at Future Fund Oman.

It took longer than expected, but finally both sides arrived at an Outcome assessment they could buy into. A mere 3% chance of achieving the Outperform scenario, it was a tall order for Adnan and the team to scale to become a top performing investment for FFO.

Future Fund Oman, in the end, signed onto the investment papers to lead both Series E and Series D, granted the company was able to hit the revenue milestones in the growth plan. “Of course, we’ll hit them”, Liz said as she put her team to work.

Outcome Canvas, for Leo Bank. In Scale Up MENA! Masterclasses participants learn to apply the Outcome Canvas and start working on crafting a strategy and narrative around investor returns.

Future Fund Oman was eager to do a $200M round at $2BN, then roll into another $200M @3BN, once the commercial milestones were hit.

Cap Table Post Series D With FFO

Cap table post Series D, PIF and FFO both with 9,1%, while Wamda still has the highest equity post at 9,6%.

Cap Table Post Series E With FFO

With the Series E financing, taking the Leo Bank to $3,2BN post-money valuation, the increase in valuation and return multiple were really starting to kick in. While still completely unrealized gains, the early investors were looking at a 350X return – and still sizeable ownership in

“Leo has the potential to become one of the region’s breakout winners”, members of the Dubai Angel Investor Network discussed in their annual investor summit.

Cap table post Series D with FFO taking the second round, for a total investment of $400M.
Post Series E, Future Fund Oman increase their stake to 14,8%, becoming the leading investor in Leo Bank.

Rebranding, Product Expansion

“It’s time to launch the next version of Leo”. The product team had worked on this for nearly nine months. The next version of the product roadmap was an ambitious step up. “So, so much more than just a bank. We are becoming the digital backbone for 100M people in MENA”, Basil, the new Chief Product Officer had stated. With backgrounds from Twitter and WhatsApp, he had seen what it took to develop scalable digital products that people loved.

“Also, with the new product launch, we are doing a rebrand. From now on, it will simply be Leo”, Maheen and Liz announced at the monthly all-hands meeting. Growing, with over 4.000 team members, the all hands were now more digital than ever, but also a key part of maintaining the team culture and cohesion as they grew at breakneck pace.

Exit Paths

“How do we create liquidity and exits for investors and founders?”, the question had been circulating in the finance team for some months now. It was the angels from DAN who had first brought it up. One of them, Sanjana Raheja had been an exceptionally active angel. As an active member of the ecosystem, Sanjana, or just San, had been coaching the team for months now. “I’d like to see some more non-obvious exit pathways that come in”, She had asked.

Using the GP Exit Paths, from Strategy Tools, San had provided the investment team with a simple, visual structure to start mapping out more exit paths. “Not all exits are exits”, San kept saying. “We need to think about investor liquidity throughout the founder’s journey, not just as a possible big bang in 5-10 years time”. San was a trusted advisor to both startups, scale ups and emerging fund managers, known for her depth and reflective thinking about creating new paths to liquidity in the region.

Under San’s guidance, and working with Michael at Golden Gate Ventures, the investment team developed the GP Exit Paths, taking the view of GGV. GGV was coming towards the end of their fund lifetime, and access to disciplined liquidity was becoming a thing.

GP Exit Paths, San and Michael worked with the finance team to map out possible paths to liquidity, seen through the lens of GGV

Thanks to San and Michael’s guidance, the finance team managed to get a clear understanding of what an investor like GGV was looking to achieve, and realizing that paths to liquidity was something they had to create, not just wait for.

Tackling Growth Pains, Leadership And Culture Issues

“I had not idea this would take so much of my attention”, Maheen was speaking with her performance coach. She had built Leo into a strong regional brand, with 4.500 employees, and millions of delighted users. But the cracks were starting to show.

Of the top 200 leaders in the company, few had ever scaled a company like this, this fast. Maheen had grown accustomed to focusing externally. “Strategic partnerships, investors, media; that’s been my focus. Now I am realizing my leadership bench is not what I hoped it would be. I am going to spend more time internally, developing the people and culture to carry us forward”, she said.

it was the regular monthly check-ins with Tiffany and Nader that had gotten her to think about the depth of leadership on the team. DFDF had a portfolio-support program, aimed at supporting the fastest growing, high potential companies across their direct and fund portfolios. With over 145 investments, only 5-6 founders got the Scale Coach support from Nader and Tiffany.

Earlier in her work, she had benefitted from the team at Misk Foundation. Now, as the company was working into the Series F, one of the few to ever happen in the region, strong leadership, rapid talent development and focus on culture across 24+ offices would be required. “You have built a rocket ship, but can you steer it?”, Nader had asked over a late dinner at 24th St. World Street Food

Series F – Led By Mubadala

“Mubadala is probably one of the most influential investors in the region. It will be a big win for us”. The board discussion had centered on the recently received term sheet from Mubadala Capital.

High-level terms sheet from one of the most sought after investors in the region. Used for training purposes in Scale Up MENA!

Mubadala Capital was proposing a multi-tier structure with the following highlights:

– Direct equity $25M @2,5X mark up from last post-money valuation

– Venture debt $20M, with 15% interest

– Secondaries purchase of 10% equity from existing shareholders, with 25% discount

All told, the deal would value Leo at $7,5BN pre-money, and it would give Mubadala a 10,3% ownership post, making them the second largest shareholder after Future Fund Oman.

Interestingly, a key part of the transaction was how Mubadala structed the equity.

$25M would come in a direct investment. But $562M would be used to buy out shares from earlier investors, at a 25% discount, if they could find any takers for it. “Wow, that is both a challenge for us and a great opportunity for our investors to take some money of the table”, Adnan had said. “This is exactly the kind of opportunity I want to be able to present to our investors”, Maheen had said.

The Mubadala Secondaries Transaction

It took a few weeks to structure the transaction, but everyone had been supportive and wanted to help make it happen. “This is just too good to be true”, Liz’s older brother had blurted out when he realized the offer. He and his friends would be able to sell 6.000 shares, continue to hold on to 14.333 shares, and with the sale alone, they would cash out $90M.

Sure, he had expected, or rather hoped for a payout when they first invested in Leo, but nothing, nothing like this.

This deal also allowed for some of the very earliest employees, the ones that had been with Leo since the first year, to cash out some earnings. A total $22M went to stakeholders in the SPV.

“What Mubadala is doing here is superb. The ecosystem really needs more paths to liquidity”, Adnan said to his finance team went they were structuring the secondaries.

Nine entities, including many early employees came together to meet the 10% secondaries requirements in Series F.

Cap Table Post Series F With Mubadala

With the combined direct and secondary transaction, for a total investment of $587M, Mubadala was coming in as the second largest shareholder, after Future Fund Oman. New in this round was the issue of another 8.000 shares in a new Team SPV, and a dedicated 1,1% equity incentive for the full management team.

Cap table post Series F. Notice the wide range of return multiples in the last column. Your entry price really matters.

With the updated cap table, Future Fund Oman and Mubadala would be the two largest shareholders, with 15% and 10,3%, respectively. The two investors had invested close to $1BN in direct, and secondary transactions.

Wamda Capital and PIF each held around 8% – 9%, but with very different entry prices, at 1.198 per share and 3.156 per share, respectively.

Collectively, the three remaining founders held exactly 20%, and another 0,8% as participants in the newly set up Management SPV.

In Conversations With Mubadala, The Investment Team Commended Them, “You’ve Really Managed To Structure A Clean And Balanced Cap Table. We Don’t See That Too Often. Well Done.”

Taking On Venture Debt At Scale

“We should really explore venture debt”, the finance team had been looking at more non-dilutive ways to finance the growth.

Oman Venture Financing Company had increasingly become the issuer of choice. In a series of meetings in Oman, the OVFC had emerged as a strategic partner that understood how to aggressively fund market expansion.

“We want to see more high-growth cases emerging out of the region, with the potential to go global”, the Investment Director had said during their discussions. The term sheet came together in a few weeks, where OVFC was willing to finance up to 8X ARR; but recommended capping the debt at 2X ARR. Ultimately, the finance team agreed to a low ARR ratio, with a debt of 600M. At 12%, it was an expensive solution, but the board agreed to the proposition, rather for doing a Series E. The terms were demanding, but the finance team had worked on multiple risk scenarios and were comfortable taking on the debt on said terms.

Venture debt should always be a part of your capital stack, just make sure to read the fine print and map out risks, scenarios and notably, worst case scenarios. Not sure the finance team did it well enough here. What do you think?

Negotiating On Incoming Acquisition Offers

Following the investment from Mubadala, it seemed like the entire world came knocking.

Over a period of 3 months, the board received no less than 8 initial acquisition offers. “Things have really changed for us”, Liz said in one of the pre-board meeting discussions. “Yes, but we are not selling, and not selling at any kind of low-end pricing”, Adnan had been clear on that. After all, he and the IR team had promised early investors outlier returns, and he felt a strong, personal desire to deliver on his promise.

Attractive exit options discussed at the board meeting

Yet, the board took the acquisition offers seriously, recognizing their fiduciary duty to shareholders. For the Q1 board meeting, four offers were looked at serious.

Microsoft was willing to acquire Leo for a 2,2X last valuation, which would take the company to a $16,6BN valuation. But, the deal was paid in Microsoft shares with a 2-year lock up. Nobody really felt good about that option.

Aramco, interestingly enough, was looking to invest into fintech as part of their wider diversification strategy. 2X last post would take the company past $15BN in exit value. Paid all cash, this was a very interesting deal for shareholder. “We are not looking to sell to an energy conglomerate”, Maheen was not interested in going down that route.

Gulf Capital had put in a very interesting proposition, at 1.5X last post, coming in at $11,3BN, but the term sheet revealed a massive debt for the company, effectively taking on more debt than the company could service under its current model. “We just can not recommend this”, Zara, head of risk management had stated.

Finally, First Abu Dhabi Bank had spent months meeting with the team, talking to customers, and probably done the most extensive due diligence by any of the potential acquirers. The M&A team positioned the acquisition as a strong merger amongst equals, looking at Leo as the platform the digital expansion for the Bank.

The team was enticed, and at 2.6X last post, the deal would come in at $19BN. At a $47BN market cap, the deal would be a massive, strategic move by FADB. “Are we really ready to work with a big, established bank, or do we want to chart our own future?”, that was the question the board had discussed

Ultimately, The Board Had Turned Down All Four Aacquisition Offers.

“Give us a few months, let us show you what we can do”, Maheen had said. “My team is accelerating our revenue growth. Our journey is still just beginning”, Liz had followed on with. The board had agreed. “Let’s see where we go from here”, Maryam, Future Fund Oman’s board representative had agreed.

Charting A Strategic Path: Going Public On Tadawul

“Yes, yes, I know, we could choose to go for a Nasdaq listing”. The discussion had been going on for a couple of weeks already. As chairman of the board, James had helped the team really ask some fundamental questions around the path for the next stage of growth.

“You have really sound fundamentals, we can virtually guarantee a successful IPO in New York”, one of the investment banking teams had pitched.

They were right. By now Leo had amassed 16M users, forecasting to hit 40M users in 24 months. The trajectory was insane. Revenue, and notably the recurring part of the revenue mix was following a similar chart, taking Leo to $1.1BN revenue this year, and a target of $2.1BN revenue next year.

In Scale Up MENA! the IPO is one of the most valuable cards a team can get their hands on, but beware, it is complicated…..

“I know we could probably get a higher valuation in New York”, Maheen said. She had been flying between New York, Singapore, London and home non-stop for the past 8 weeks.

“But there is something deeper here. We are a product of the ecosystem. We would never have been here without the vast, extensive help and support we got along the founder’s journey. From the coaching sessions with DFDF, the workshops at Hub71, the angel connections at DAN and the mentors we got from the DIFC meetups. We are a product of the ecosystem, and I would like to make sure we are now finally in a position to give back to that ecosystem”, Liz had fully agreed, while parts of the board was still contemplating a NY IPO.

The board had run an investment bank beauty contest, inviting eight banks to pitch for the IPO process. The shortlist had come down to Goldman Sachs and a strong, local team in MENA, led by Emirates NBD Capital.

“Listen, when we set out to build Leo, we aspired to outperform Careem. We have achieved that. Now, we have the chance of really stepping it up one step further. Talabat was a marquee IPO for the region. We could choose to work with the same team, the team that listed Talabat. We could aim big and try to secure an IPO that would exceed Talabat”, Adnan had grown increasingly impressed with the local team, led by Emirates NBD Capital.

Ultimately, The Board Decision Was Clear. Leo Would Go For A Local LPO, Led By A Total Of 9 Investment Banks, Under The Guidance Of Emirates NDB Capital.

Listing Advisor: Emirates NBD Capital PSC acted as Listing Advisor

Joint Global Coordinators: Emirates NBD Capital PSC, J.P. Morgan Securities PLC, and Morgan Stanley & Co International PLC as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners

Joint Bookrunners: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, Barclays Bank PLC, EFG-Hermes UAE Limited, First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, ING Bank N.V., and UniCredit Bank GmbH as joint bookrunners

Legal Advisor: Linklaters

“This is exactly the same team that Talabat used, I have high expectations here”, Maheen had concluded with the board as the company and its line up of advisors started preparing to take Leo public.

Understanding Ultimate Ownership And The Impact On The Ecosystem

During one of their flights to Abu Dhabi, Adnan and Maheen had sketched out something interesting. It was a chart of the ultimate shareholders, owners, investors in Leo. “Our cap table is pretty easy, with 22 entities listed. But I’ve been thinking. In total we now have more than 4000 employees in our SPV’s, we have 24 angel investors from DAN, we have five VC funds, each with 20 – 250 limited partners behind them. By my account, we have more than 5000 people as direct or indirect owners in Leo, and that is not counting our larger funds”, he said.

“Imagine the impact on the region, on the ecosystem, when we go public. It has been a long, 7-year journey already, but this could have a massive impact on the ecosystem, and create a lot of wealth for the people that believed in us early, not to mention the early employees that have been with us since the early days.” , Adnan said as the plane was starting to descend on Abu Dhabi.

IPO Readiness

“Ok, there are still some requirements to sort through”. The team from Linklaters had prepared the legal brief for the team and board.

“30% free float and one-year lock up is easy. The challenge is how we choose to restructure the cap table, and ultimate ownership to meet the requirement of 200 unique shareholders at the time of listing”, the Managing Partner at Linklaters said. The legal team had worked on finalizing the paperwork alongside the Issuer team in Riyadh.

The Decision Had Been Made. Leo Was Going Public On Tadawul.

Roadshow And Valuation Multiples

In the roadshow materials, there was one key slide that had stood out.

At $2,1BN revenue and a $13,5 target IPO value, Leo got a 6.4X valuation-to-revenue multiple. Post IPO, with new equity in, Leo would be looking at a 9,3X multiple. “Leo will be one of the fastest growing fintechs to go public, and compared to Chime, Adyen and Revolut, there is still massive upside for new investors”, the team from Emirates Capital and Morgan Stanley had repeated in investor meetings.

That Slide Had Sealed The Decision For Most Cornerstone Investors In The LPO.

IPO Celebration

The founders during the IPO, the third biggest IPO ever in MENA

“Wow, what a day. Do you guys remember the first sketches we made back at the Starbucks at DIFC?”, Liz was euphoric. “It truly has been a journey”, Adnan smiled. They had grown the team to 5.000+ people, scaled to 35M users and well over two billion in revenue.

“But, remember, we are just getting started”, Maheen followed up.

The Team From Emirates Capital Had Been Clear. “Some People Call It An Exit. It Is Not. Going From A Privately Held Company To Becoming A Public Company Is Not An Exit. It Is A Transition. It’s A Step On Your Founder’s Journey.”

The decision had been made to raise $6BN in new equity at the IPO. The listing had been massively oversubscribed, indicating a strong demand for new tech companies in the region. PIF and Mubadala had been exceptionally helpful on the roadshow, often joining the management team on the road.

Based on market feedback, the valuation was set at $13,5BN at listing, outperforming the $10BN Talabat listing a few years earlier. “The biggest tech IPO this year”, Forbes Middle East plastered on the front page. Financial Times called Maheen “the rocket ship CEO, guiding the biggest listing in years”.

The $6BN raise at a $13,5BN valuation also passed the requirements of a 30% free float in the market.

“We are proud to give the public a chance to invest in Leo today. Since our launch we have tried to build and scale the bank of the future for the MENA region. At today’s IPO shows strong interest in the stock, but we are only just getting started. The best parts is still ahead of us”, Maheen said on CNN Market Watch with Becky Anderson.

CAP TABLE AT IPO

Based on Saudi Arabian listing requirements, a total of 30,7% of Leo’s shares were made available in a free float, or IPO pool. This would allow the company to raise $6BN and becoming the third largest IPOs ever in the Middle East, just behind Aramco and DEWA.

“At A 1.240x Return, This Has Been One Of The Most Amazing Founder Journeys Ever, In Mena”, Having Backed Leo Since The Early Days, Shorooq Partners Were Delighted To Announce The Outcome For Their Limited Partners On An Update Call On The Same Day As The LPO. It Was A Huge Win For Their Fund.

“We are delighted to back the next generation of fund managers in the region, and the team at Shorooq has shown what is possible when we develop strong, outperforming GP teams in the region. We are not surprised to see, but wish to congratulate the entire team with this big win”, DFDF’s Mahmoud Ward said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal. DFDF stood to take home a 14x net DPI on the back of an excellent portfolio in Shorooq Fund IV.

Shorooq Partners, Golden Gate Ventures and Global Ventures, Monk Hill all secured a coveted Dragon in backing Leo. A Dragon, or a single deal, that ends up returning the whole fund, is about 4X as rare as securing a unicorn. For fund managers, it marks the entry into the global top league of VC investors.

One of the big winners in the IPO had been Wamda Capital. With their record $40M investment, at $300M valuation, many had said they were crazy, investing at far too high a valuation. “Many said the deal would never, ever return back much”, Wamda’s Managing Partner said on a podcast with MAGNiTT. “but, hey, we saw the potential, we believed in the team and we believe in the rapidly maturing ecosystem. Our $40M investment returned us 30X, for a total valuation of $1,2BN”.

“Dude, That’s The Stuff That Legends Are Made Of”, Philip Had Said On The Podcast.

PIF returned back 11X, but decided to stay on as a long-term investor, also taking a minor post at IPO, to indicate further backing of Leo. Looking back, Mubadala’s decision to do the $530M secondary was a genius stroke, as the investment secured a 2,4X return. Not bad for a late-stage deal.

Employees, now counting 5.000+, all made out very well with the Special purpose vehicles. After the IPO, 3,2% was owned by employees and management, with another 2,6% available to secure future talent in the ESOP.

“We are immensely proud to see homegrown talent choose to launch, scale and list in the region. This talented group could have chosen to build anywhere, but they choose MENA, and what a journey they have had. We are proud to be early backers and we are delighted to see the ripple effect of this success story in the region”, speaking at the annual MEVCA Investor Summit, Dubai Angel Network Chairman was delighted.

Dan Had Made More Than $611M, Off Of Their $500.000 Investment At Pre-seed. “we Got A 1.222X Return On The $500.000 We Invested. This Stands As One Of The Best Angel Investor Deals Ever, Fully On Par With The First Angel Investors Into Google And Ebay Back In The Days. Now, We Hope To See Many More Deals Like This, As The Leo Mafia Start Launching The Next Generation Of Start Ups Here. We Stand Ready To Invest.

Of course, the three remaining founders, Liz, Adnan and Maheen, each hit an equity valuation of $907M at IPO. With various management incentive programs, combined with strong upside potential in the stock, most analysts predicted this could rise to $1,5BN within the next 2 years, minting three new billionaires in the region. Lock-up and market expectations would mean this would not get liquidated to cash anytime soon, but generational wealth was being created in the MENA ecosystem.

Speaking as the opening keynote speaker at Dubai FinTech Summit, Maheen shared her thoughts on the future of Leo. “This truly was the result of the ecosystem coming together, maturing. When we started, we knew little beyond raising a few SAFE notes and a seed round. We got extensive help and support, coaching and mentoring. We secured great talent, we build a world-class board. But, in sum, we owe our success to the entire MENA ecosystem. We are truly coming of age, all of us. Looking ahead I believe the best is clearly yet to come”.

The End. For Now.

Make sure you also read part I: the early days (start up, seed): and part II: scaling up (Series A,B).

Did You Enjoy Leo’s Journey?

What did we get right? What is clearly wrong? Where would you have liked the team to go differently? Let us know in the comments.

Scale Up MENA! Launching In August 2025

In Scale Up MENA! you and your team members step into the shoes of a founder team in MENA, just like Liz, Maheen, Adnan and Malik.

You select amongst 30+ case companies. Your task: scale your new case company from an early idea to a successful exit, while also competing with 3 to 20+ other teams, all trying to outcompete and outrace you. Along the way, manage the nine building blocks Maheen identified early on, raise multiple rounds of financing, accelerate revenue velocity, scale with AI tools and try to outcompete the likes of Careem, Tabby and Talabat.

Along The Way, You Learn How To Read Term Sheets, Structure Investment Rounds, Develop Your Growth Strategy, Build Paths To Liquidity, Speak In Investor Outcome Terms And Complete An Exit Transaction – All Core Skills You Need To Scale Your Real-life Start Up

Scale Up Mena! From Idea To Exit Is One Of The World’s Leading Methods To Accelerate A Startup’s Successful Growth Journey. The Scale Up Mena! Masterclass Is Designed To Help Founders Understand How To Lead Through The Founder’s Journey, From Idea To Ultimate Exit.

Launching August 2025. Learn more.

July 4, 2025/0 Comments/by Christian Rangen

Insights, Strategy

An Unexpected Adventure: Scaling Up in Hokkaido

Sometimes the best trips in life are the ones that come out of nowhere.

Take, for example, this adventure I stumbled into. It all started in the most random of ways — at a bar during Oslo Innovation Week, of all places. I had no idea that an innocent conversation with Miho Tanaka, a powerhouse of entrepreneurial energy, would eventually lead to a business trip halfway across the world. And not just any trip — this was a ticket to Hokkaido Innovation Week in Japan, one of the most exotic spots on the planet.

So, I packed my board game (because who doesn’t travel with a board game?), threw in some ski boots (gotta be ready for anything), and set course for the land of the rising sun.

When I arrived, not only was my bag nowhere to be found, but I realized something else: I was in a part of the world that felt lightyears away from the West. The cultural distance was vast, and Japan’s startup scene presented challenges that were very different from what I’m used to.

But hey, that’s why we travel, right?

Japan’s Startup Scene: The Land of Contradictions

Before diving back into my personal story, let’s take a minute to understand Japan. The country is a fascinating blend of old-world traditions and cutting-edge tech. It’s home to some of the world’s largest corporations and has made some of the most significant contributions to innovation over the past century. But when it comes to startups, things are a little… complicated.

Japan’s economy, while massive, is famously conservative. The risk-taking culture that fuels Silicon Valley isn’t exactly alive and well here. In fact, the Japanese are known for their strong preference for stability — which is the opposite of what you need if you’re trying to start something from scratch. The startup scene is still maturing, and a lot of venture capitalists are hesitant to back early-stage companies, preferring more established businesses instead.

There’s also the matter of Japan’s “no-risk” mentality. Many people, particularly those in the older generation, still view failure as something to be avoided at all costs. This can create a challenging environment for entrepreneurs who need to fail fast, pivot, and try again — all things that are often part of the startup journey.

That said, things may be slowly shifting. For the first time in decades, Japan is exiting its ultra-low interest rate era — a sign that the country’s long-stagnant economy might be turning a corner. With inflation creeping in, wages rising, and the central bank finally confident enough to raise rates, there’s hope that a more dynamic economic environment could emerge. While monetary policy alone won’t fix Japan’s conservative startup culture, it might loosen the grip of risk-aversion in capital markets — nudging both investors and institutions toward a more innovation-friendly mindset.

My Own Hokkaido Adventure

Now, back to my story. Without so much as a change of underwear (thanks to my missing luggage), I rushed to the next plane. After landing in New Chitose, I hopped on a train to Sapporo, the vibrant city known for its snow, skyscrapers, and startling cleanliness. Seriously, this place is pristine. And, oh yeah, it snows like 10 meters a year. You’ve got to love a place that can pull off that much snow without breaking a sweat.

The next day, we kicked off an excursion with a group of VIPs, and suddenly, I found myself next to someone at a red light who bizarrely spoke Norwegian. “Are we heading to the same bus?” I asked. Turns out, these were the founders of TuniSea, a startup that’s turning marine invertebrates into a delicacy (yes, really). And then there was Ruben Brands of Sea02, a startup tackling one of the most critical challenges of our time: ocean carbon capture. What absolute legends.

Three hours later, we were all in the heart of backcountry skiing bonanza Niseko , exploring traditional Japanese dining spots, visiting local distilleries, soaking in Onsen hot springs, and experiencing the legendary “Ja-pow” (that’s Japanese powder snow, for the uninitiated). It was an unforgettable experience.

The Scale-up Simulation: Making Deals, Fast

But let’s be clear — we weren’t there just to have fun. There was serious business to be done. The big day arrived for running the “Scale-up!” simulation, where we threw a group of founders, investors, and ecosystem players into a high-speed, high-stakes board simulator designed to mimic startup fundraising.

At first, things were slow. The participants were still getting used to the idea of building deals, and we were all kind of tiptoeing around the board. But soon enough, the lightbulbs went on. It became clear that if you want to survive in the startup world, you need to make deals — and you need to make them fast. The simulation started ramping up quickly as founders learned that speed was the name of the game.
Now, I think this is an extremely interesting observation because having worked with over 200 founding teams over the years, I see this mistake over and over again; founders are not working quickly enough with the process of fundraising. Instead, they drag their feet up until they are running low on cash which is the worst time to be asking anyone for money. Also, once they finally do finish the raise they kick back and focus on more “important” issues up until they’re too low on cash again, and the whole circle starts again.
Another observation: once participants realized they could combine investor cards, they suddenly became much more creative in dealmaking. And that’s the beauty of Scale-up! You can simulate a process that would otherwise take you 3-4 years to wrap your head around.

In any case. what was truly fascinating was how, regardless of cultural background or experience level, the participants began to recognize the value of a good deal and a sound capital strategy. The competition became fierce as everyone rushed toward startup greatness and world domination. It’s almost as if the mindset of speed and deal-making transcended borders and ecosystems — everyone was on the same page, working toward the same goal.

Closing Thoughts: Breaking Through Cultural and Entrepreneurial Barriers

Ok, so the takeways: Despite Japan’s challenges — a stifling economy, a “no-risk” culture, and a venture capital scene that might be described as “still in beta” — something magical happens when you toss all these barriers out the window and just let people play a high-speed startup simulator.As we simulated the chaotic, deal-making frenzy of startup life, it became clear that speed and capital strategy transcend culture. The moment you throw a bunch of hungry founders into the mix, let them loose on the “Scale-up!” simulator, and watch them scramble for investment rounds, the playing field levels out — and very quickly, it’s all about who can spot a good deal before the other guy does. It was like Shark Tank, except with way more caffeine, fewer sharks, and more snow.

And then, of course, there was the sheer joy of cultural exchange — you know, that beautiful moment when you can almost hear the wheels of innovation turning as we all connected over a shared love of startup chaos. Sure, my luggage was still missing (thanks for that, Japan Airlines), and I was down to the clothes I had on my back, but none of that mattered.

Recommendations to the JP ecosystem

So what’s needed to unlock Japan’s startup potential? Three things stand out.

First, founders need to lead. As Brad Feld argues in Startup Communities, ecosystems don’t work unless entrepreneurs take charge. That means more than just building companies — it means organizing meetups, forming angel networks, getting corporates off the sidelines, nudging universities to spin out research, and fostering a culture where taking the leap is normalized. Bottom-up energy beats top-down plans every time.

Second, the capital needs to flow. Japan has no shortage of wealth, but too little of it finds its way into early-stage ventures. The government should grease the wheels with tax incentives and encourage institutional investors to take startup exposure seriously. If they want innovation, they’ll need to fund it — and fast.

Third, open the gates. Japan has a deep-rooted tradition of self-reliance and closed borders, but in startups, outsiders are often the spark. Some of the most dynamic ecosystems — from Silicon Valley to Berlin — thrive because immigrants bring hunger, fresh ideas, and a higher tolerance for risk. Japan should welcome entrepreneurial migrants and make it easier for them to start and scale companies here. Talent is global — Japan’s startup scene should be too.

A huge shoutout goes to Miho Tanaka, Kentaro Morita, Seiko Miura, and the rest of the Hokkaido Innovation Week team for pulling this off. You all somehow managed to get a bunch of diverse people in the same room, with no luggage, in a snowy wonderland, and made them believe they could solve all of Japan’s entrepreneurial challenges — one deal at a time. It was honestly a win for the ages. And let’s face it, with the high-speed, deal-making frenzy we unleashed, I think we might’ve been the real startup rocket fuel Hokkaido was looking for.

About Marcus Hølland Eikeland

Marcus is the Director of Program at LUMO Labs – a European VC who invests in deeptech solutions within health, education and climate. To date, he has had leading roles in other firms such as Katapult and Playbook 17, supporting over 150 founders in developing transformative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Marcus also mentors at Stanford University, guiding the next generation of eco-preneurs as part of the Stanford Summer Ecopreneurial Immersion (Eco-SEI) program. He also serves on the selection committee, shaping the future of sustainable innovation at the Graduate School of Business.

June 3, 2025/0 Comments/by Marcus Hølland Eikeland

Insights

Top 10 Sims of 2024

Every year, 100’s and 100’s of business leaders experience a ST Masterclass. 2024 was no exception. From VC Executive Education in Switzerland, leading corporate strategy & transformation in the UK, ecosystem development in the Middle East and corporate innovation with global clients; here are our top 2024 Masterclasses – all built around the Strategy sims.

Fund Manager! IMD

WHO: IMD

WHERE: Lausanne, Switzerland

DURATION: 2 days

WHY THE SIM?: Traditional VC education often lacks practical tools and frameworks that fund managers can immediately apply to real-world challenges. IMD, in partnership with Strategy Tools, piloted the Fund Manager! Simulation at their program Building Winning Portfolios to bridge this gap. The program, developed by Jim Pulcrano and Karl Schmedders, delivered hands-on training, and equipped participants with actionable tools like the LP stack, LP Prospecting Canvas and Fund Journey Map to address critical areas such as fund strategy, value creation, and exit planning.

By combining theory with practical application, the Fund Manager! experience provided participants with the skills and frameworks needed to close existing knowledge gaps, improve decision-making, and drive better fund performance in an increasingly competitive market.

OUTCOME: The 2-day Masterclass was a success, and participants left with:

A deeper understanding of fund strategy and portfolio management.
Practical tools and frameworks to optimize value creation.
Actionable insights into structuring exits and improving fund performance.

Feedback highlighted the value of Strategy Tools’ frameworks in real-world applications, with participants achieving tangible improvements in their approach to fund management.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST: The Fund Manager! pilot at IMD marked the beginning of ST’s partnership with one of the world’s top business schools. It helped enhance VC skillsets and fostered a collaborative environment where fund managers could strategize, develop roadmaps, and tackle key challenges in the evolving VC landscape.

In 2025, IMD is running two on-campus Venture Capital Asset Management programs in collaboration with Strategy Tools. Chris, Scott, and Henrik will be back on campus in May and September. The next program starts May 8th. Read more and sign up

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen, Scott B. Newton, Henrik Amstutz

Read the case study

Fund Manager! Falak

WHO: Falak Startups

WHERE: Cairo, Egypt

DURATION: 3 days

WHY THE SIM?: Following the success of the first VC Fund Manager Masterclass in 2022, Falak Startups, in partnership with Strategy Tools and supported by EBRD and USAID, brought back the program to build on its impact. Traditional VC training in Egypt often lacks interactivity, practical tools, and tailored learning experiences. This edition was designed to bridge those gaps by delivering a highly interactive, hands-on learning environment.

The program equipped participants with actionable frameworks to improve fund strategy, value creation, and collaboration, further strengthening the regional investment landscape and fostering a network of engaged VCs.

OUTCOME: The 3-day Masterclass was a resounding success, with significant improvements over the 2022 edition:

Enhanced venue to match the expectations of high-calibre participants.
More comprehensive content with expert-led sessions, practical simulations, and fireside chats.
Strong participant engagement through team-based competitions, presentations, and interactive discussions.

Participants praised the program for its unique, immersive format, highlighting its practical value, robust networking opportunities, and high level of engagement throughout the three days.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST: Building on the momentum from 2022, together with Falak Startups, we delivered an even stronger edition of the VC Fund Manager Masterclass: the upgraded format, extended duration, and enriched content raised the bar for VC training in Egypt.

The overwhelmingly positive feedback underscored its impact, with participants calling for the program to be held twice a year and expanded regionally. Falak’s continued partnership with Strategy Tools has proven instrumental in equipping VCs with the tools, insights, and connections to elevate the MENA startup ecosystem.

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen, Scott B. Newton, Henrik Amstutz, and Kyrre Lemvik + our Falak Startups partners in Egypt

Transform! Hult Ashridge

WHERE: Hult Ashridge Campus, just outside London

DURATION: 2 days

WHY THE SIM?: Hult is using Transform! As one of the key pieces in a client-custom executive leadership development program. Transform! (financial services sector) is a perfect fit for the overall program.

OUTCOME: Enable more strategic thinking, and more strategic leadership and expose the senior business leaders to key strategy-, leadership- and capital market topics they are not exposed to on a day-to-day basis.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST: Running Transform! With senior business leaders is a truly unique experience. In just hours, we cover every angle of challenges, setbacks and surprises happening in the C-suite of a listed company.
Coming together as a team, handling the roles, and delivering on the transformation strategy, Transform truly puts people into the ‘shoes of a new management team’, putting them under the competitive pressure to lead, reinvent and transform a legacy company in the financial services sector.

Putting Transform! Into the hands of senior, experienced and ambitious business leaders is a perfect fit, with people learning at a very different pace from regular classroom lectures.

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen

Scale Up Angel! Tiye

WHO: Tiye Angels (Angel network)

WHERE: Cairo, Egypt

DURATION: 2 days

WHY THE SIM?: In Egypt’s evolving angel investment ecosystem, significant gaps remain in investor education, collaboration, and understanding of critical tools and frameworks. The Scale Up! Angel Masterclass with Tiye Angels addressed these gaps by demystifying angel investing. The program equipped participants with a structured understanding of value creation, deal flow, and investment readiness while fostering a collaborative mindset often lacking in the region.

OUTCOME: The Masterclass delivered transformational outcomes:

A 360-degree perspective on investing, shifting focus from purely entrepreneurial product creation to value creation and fundable business strategies.
Increased confidence and ability to collaborate with other investors.
Immediate real-world application, with Riham already implementing learnings to improve her own startup, Business Builder, while exploring new investment opportunities.

Participants praised the program’s unique ability to simplify complex VC and angel investing terminologies, creating clarity and actionable knowledge.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST: The Scale Up! Angel Masterclass stood out for its tangible impact on participants’ thinking, behaviour, and investment strategies. It bridged critical knowledge gaps, fostered a collaborative culture, and empowered participants to create meaningful change in the ecosystem.

Programs like this are vital to maturing the angel investing landscape in Egypt, equipping investors with tools, confidence, and collaboration to drive economic growth and innovation in the region.

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen, Henrik Amstutz, Kyrre Lemvik

Read the case study

Scale Up! DNB

WHO: DNB Bank

WHERE: Norway

DURATION: 2 days

WHY THE SIM?: Norway’s largest bank, DNB, recognized a key challenge: startup clients were approaching the bank too late in their scale-up journeys, missing critical growth opportunities. While DNB’s advisors excelled in financial analysis, they felt like they could build on practical insights into startup financing, equity, and long-term growth strategies.

To bridge this gap, DNB partnered with Strategy Tools to deliver the Scale Up! Masterclass – a hands-on, immersive simulation guiding advisors through the founder’s journey from idea to exit. The program equipped DNB’s startup-focused team with the tools and frameworks to better understand and support scale-ups, positioning DNB as a true growth partner.

OUTCOME: The Scale Up! Masterclass had a significant impact on DNB’s advisors:

A deeper understanding of the founder’s lifecycle, from fundraising to IPO.
Enhanced ability to engage startups with strategic growth and financing advice.
Improved cap table and valuation planning knowledge, enabling advisors to ask critical investor-focused questions.

Going through the simulation fostered practical, actionable skills, with advisors immediately applying insights to their client work. Participants highlighted the program’s effectiveness in transforming complex concepts into real-world solutions.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST: The Scale Up! Masterclass marked a turning point for DNB’s startup advisory team. By combining hands-on learning with deep insights into startup challenges, DNB advisors gained the confidence and skills to provide proactive, growth-oriented support to high-potential companies.

Key outcomes included:

Enhanced strategic advisory for startups at critical growth stages.
Strengthened DNB’s role as a key ecosystem enabler in Norway’s entrepreneurial landscape.
Advisors adopting a long-term investor mindset, helping clients plan three capital rounds ahead.

The program reinforced DNB’s commitment to elevating the startup ecosystem, transforming its advisors from financial analysts into true growth partners for Norway’s founders.

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen, Henrik Amstutz, Kyrre Lemvik

Read the case study

Accenture

WHO: Founders Intelligence (part of Accenture)

WHERE: London, UK

DURATION: 2 days

WHY THE SIM?: Founders Intelligence (FI), a consulting firm specializing in entrepreneurial growth, works at the intersection of startups and corporates. Despite many team members having startup experience, FI recognized a need for deeper empathy and understanding of the founder’s journey to enhance their ability to advise corporate clients.

Partnering with Strategy Tools, FI brought the Scale Up! Masterclass to London to immerse their team in the complexities of scaling a startup—from fundraising and cap table management to investor dynamics and exit strategies.

OUTCOME: The 2-day Masterclass delivered transformational results for FI’s team:

A hands-on understanding of startup challenges, from early-stage funding to IPO readiness.
Practical skills in cap table math, investor strategy, and board dynamics.
Improved team cohesion and empathy, enhancing collaboration and client engagement.

Participants highlighted the immersive, real-world simulation as eye-opening, fast-paced, and invaluable in upskilling their ability to navigate and advise on scaling ventures.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST: The Scale Up! Masterclass exceeded expectations for Founders Intelligence, blending team-building with practical, high-impact learning. The simulation energized the team, fostered greater empathy for startup founders, and equipped participants with the tools and confidence to drive client success.

Key highlights included:

High-pressure pitch simulations, IPO strategies, and late-stage investor decision-making.
Fast-paced learning that condensed years of startup experience into two days.
Strengthened team motivation, creativity, and collaboration.

The Masterclass proved a powerful exercise in skill development and team empowerment, positioning Founders Intelligence as even stronger advisor for corporates engaging with startups.

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen, Scott B. Newton, Nir Melamud, Henrik Amstutz

Read the case study

Scale Up! Bahrain

WHO: Falak Innovation x Tamkeen

WHERE: Bahrain

DURATION: 3 days

WHY THE SIM?: Bahrain’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is growing, but startups face significant challenges in scaling, attracting investment, and navigating complex business strategies. To address this, Falak Innovation, supported by Bahrain’s government agency Tamkeen, partnered with Strategy Tools to deliver Bahrain’s first-ever Scale Up! Masterclass. A big shout-out to Suhail Algosabi, our partner in Bahrain. The program equipped Bahraini entrepreneurs with practical tools, strategic insights, and hands-on learning to tackle real-world growth challenges, from raising funds to developing sustainable exit strategies.

OUTCOME: The 3-day Masterclass delivered tangible outcomes:

Deep understanding of fundraising processes, cap tables, and investor strategies.
Immersive learning through simulations, team-based exercises, and pitch development.
Enhanced networking and collaboration among Bahrain’s entrepreneurial community.

Participants praised the interactive format, with feedback averaging 9.8/10, highlighting the program’s ability to simplify complex concepts while fostering strategic thinking and actionable learning.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST: The Scale Up! Masterclass was a landmark success for Bahrain’s startup ecosystem. By combining local expertise from Falak Innovation and global insights from Strategy Tools, the program empowered participants to scale their ventures confidently.

Key achievements included:

Strengthening Bahrain’s entrepreneurial capabilities with actionable tools and frameworks.
Bridging knowledge gaps in scaling strategies, valuation, and investor readiness.
Facilitating collaboration across diverse participants, from tech founders to traditional business owners.

The success of this inaugural program has laid the groundwork for future editions, with plans to expand the Masterclass regionally, further solidifying Bahrain’s position as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurial growth.

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen, Suhail Algosabi

Read the case study

Supercluster! Washington State, US

WHO: ICAP – Innovation Cluster Accelerator Program, Washington State Department of Commerce

WHERE: Seattle, Washington State, United States

DURATION: 1 day

WHY THE SIM?: Over the past 4 years, Chris Rangen has been advising Washington State’s Cluster Accelerator Program on building out the #1 innovation cluster program in the United States. In February, a series of in-person workshops was held in Washington State, supporting the stakeholders and the ICAP cluster team.

During one of these internal ICAP workshops, the Supercluster! Simulation was used to create more engagement, more interaction and a deeper understanding of how clusters work. Using Supercluster, the participants battled it out using Canada, the US, Norway and China as their national superclusters. For anyone working with or learning how to build clusters and cluster programs, the Supercluster! Is a perfect working tool to experience cluster development in action!

OUTCOME: “Now, we really understand how clusters work”, was the key feedback from the group.

What are the key building blocks of a cluster
How to run cluster projects
What is a cluster business model
How to build and scale more clusters in the United States

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST: The most impactful Supercluster session of the year!
Having 15+ economic development experts collaborating and competing in Supercluster is simply just incredible.

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen

We would love to see more countries, states and regions run Supercluster! In 2025!

Scale Up! Cape Town

WHO: 2X Ignite GP Sprint

WHERE: Cape Town, South Africa

DURATION: 1 day (high-intensity pace)

WHY THE SIM?:
In 2024 we ran the 3rd cohort of the 2X GP Sprint, Africa II. VC/PE/SME/Debt funds from all over Africa spent 6+ months going through the GP program. For the closing session, we decided to run the Scale Up! Sim at a record-accelerated pace. Effectively, we were saying, this is your ‘exam’. Hang on and enjoy.

We would never have been able to run this pace with regular founders, but as active investors, the teams here were able to just ‘do it’. The participants were only experienced, emerging fund managers, investing with VC/PE/SME/debt strategies across Africa.

OUTCOME:

Considering this as a closing activity of the 2X GP Sprint, we aimed for a few key things:

Strengthened teamwork and collaboration across the cohort
Deeper understanding on the venture-backed ‘founder’s journey’
Increased focus on the importance of ‘matching’ valuation to ARR throughout the journey; never let valuation rise too far from the 10X – 15X ARR valuation (one team did)
More attention on the exit side of the journey, and how ‘Valuation to ARR multiples will catch up with you’
Key insights the fund managers could apply to their own investment work

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST: Running Scale Up! With an incredibly experienced, active team of participants is both a great learning, team building, collaboration and insights experience. The pace, the discussions, and the collaboration all made it a great session.

What really made it excellent, though, was the multiple key takeaway points people had, with ‘this is exactly what I am working on in real life’, or ‘this is sooo useful’ comments. Overall, for the 2X GP Sprint cohort, we did the Fund Manager! With them in Johannesburg in March, and now the Scale Up! In December, showing how multiple sims can fit into the same program structure in a high-impact way.

DELIVERY TEAM: Chris Rangen & the 2X GP Sprint team

Fund Manager! CVCA online CAD

WHO: Women Venture Forward, Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA)

WHERE: Online / Canada

DURATION: 2 days

WHY THE SIM?: In the competitive world of venture capital, aspiring fund managers face immense pressure to navigate fundraising, portfolio building, and market dynamics effectively. The Fund Manager Masterclass, delivered by Strategy Tools in collaboration with CVCA, provided an intensive and realistic hands-on learning experience to address these challenges. Participants developed key competencies in fund strategy, due diligence, deal structuring, and investment economics under time constraints, mirroring real-world conditions.

OUTCOME:

Participants crafted VC fund strategies, secured LP funding scenarios, and optimized portfolio construction.
Key takeaways included the importance of active team coordination, the power law in fund economics, and the high-pressure dynamics of managing a VC fund.
Teams delivered outstanding results, with highlights such as achieving a simulated 26.2X MOIC and 52.5% IRR while distributing $2.1B+ back to LPs.
The experience fostered confidence, collaborative decision-making, and practical fund management skills critical to success in the venture capital landscape.

WHY IT MADE THE TOP 10 LIST: The Fund Manager Masterclass with CVCA earned its spot for its high-impact, real-world application and its ability to simulate the complexities of fund management within a compressed timeframe. It stood out by:

Providing participants with an unparalleled, immersive experience to develop and test fund strategies.
Equipping emerging fund managers with critical skills in a high-pressure, collaborative setting.
Delivering tangible insights into portfolio construction, power law application, and fund economics.

This program exemplified how practical simulations can transform learning outcomes, preparing future VC leaders to excel in a challenging, fast-paced industry.

DELIVERY TEAM: Michal Badham, Stuart Morley, supported by Kyrre Lemvik

January 6, 2025/0 Comments/by Jolene Foo-Hodne

Insights, News

2024 Wrapped – This Year at Strategy Tools

As 2024 comes to a close, we’re thrilled to look back on a year filled with innovation, collaboration, and transformative work.
This year we have greatly expanded our collaboration across the Middle East and North Africa, we have worked with a record number of emerging fund managers, 600+ people have gone through our VC Fund Manager Masterclass, we have worked with CEOs and boards leading large-scale transformation and we have expanded our work on ecosystems around the world (stay tuned for our latest research on scaling venture capital ecosystems in 2025).

In total, we worked in 22 countries during 2024.

We also celebrated the successes of our global network of trainers and partners while launching a new digital home to better connect with our growing community.

Join us as we highlight the milestones, moments, and missions that made 2024 an unforgettable chapter in the Strategy Tools journey—and as we set our sights on an even more impactful 2025.

Making Greater Impact Through Education

Education has always been at the heart of what we do, and this year was no exception. We strengthened our ongoing partnerships with Hult Ashridge and Newton Venture Program (LBS) in the UK, Duke University in the US and numerous business schools across Europe.

Adding to this stellar lineup, we partnered with IMD Business School in Switzerland. In September, we piloted the Fund Manager! Simulation as part of their Venture Capital Asset Manager program. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and we’re excited about the potential to expand our collaboration in 2025, redefining how we teach venture capital and innovation management. Read more about our work with IMD here.

Welcoming Kyrre Lemvik to the Team

February 2024 saw a fantastic addition to our team — Kyrre Lemvik, who joined us to streamline business development and partner operations. Since then, Kyrre has been instrumental in facilitating simulations, supporting our clients, and driving key initiatives. His passion for collaboration and innovation has already made an impact, and we look forward to seeing his contributions amplify in the coming year. If you’re interested to explore a partnership or about any of Strategy Tools’ services, reach out to Kyrre at kyrre@strategytools.io

A New Digital Home: Launching Strategy Tools’ Website

In Q3 of 2024, we unveiled a brand-new website designed to make accessing our tools, programs, and resources easier than ever. Led by Adelina Manolache, this project was a labor of love, and we couldn’t be prouder of the results. With a clean design, intuitive navigation, and comprehensive resources, the new site has been a game-changer for how our community interacts with Strategy Tools.

Thank you for your patience during the upgrade process — we’ll continue improving the site to meet your needs in 2025 and beyond!

Expanding Our Collaborations in MENA

Our footprint in the MENA region grew significantly this year. We collaborated with DFDF in Dubai, Falak Startups and Tiye Angels in Egypt, Falak Innovation in Bahrain and many more. From developing angel investors, upskilling venture capital managers, accelerating startups, our work has been deeply rewarding.

The MENA region’s energy and innovation potential are unmatched, and we’re excited to build on this foundation with even greater engagement in 2025 and beyond. Watch this space for some great news in early 2025!

Celebrating Our Partner Successes

Our partners are the heart of Strategy Tools, and their successes inspire us daily. This year, we celebrated incredible milestones:

Michael Badham and Stuart Morley in Canada achieved certification as Strategy Tools Master Trainers, driving transformative change in entrepreneurship education through the Scale Up! Simulation. Their work across venture capital and entrepreneurship in Canada is a great role model for other partners.
Enrico Maset expanded his work in entrepreneurship education at Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences in Austria and ESCP Berlin.
Suhail Algosaibi for spearheading our first-ever Scale Up! Masterclass in Bahrain and for returning as a meta-Master Trainer in this year’s Strategy Tools Master Trainer. Kudos, buddy!

To all our partners pushing boundaries and creating impact—thank you.

Scaling the 2X GP Accelerator Sprint: Bigger and Better

Our collaboration with 2X global entered into its 4^th year, with a strong global expansion.
The 2X GP Sprint Accelerator program saw its third cohort, with a stellar, pan-African GP cohort.

Building on the lessons learned from previous cohorts, this year’s program was richer and more actionable than ever. We’re proud of the fund managers who have gone on to raise capital and successfully close funds, setting a new standard for the venture capital ecosystem.

In 2025, we expect to significantly expand our GP accelerator programs around the world.

Building the Venture Capital Ecosystem in the Western Balkans

This year, we had the privilege of delivering the Fund Manager Masterclass in Belgrade, bringing together a dynamic group of over 30 investment professionals, VCs, ecosystem representatives, business angels, and entrepreneurs from across the Western Balkans.

The training, implemented as part of the EBRD’s StarVenture Programme, was made possible through collaboration with Luxembourg’s Ministry of Finance (via the EBRD Small Business Impact Fund) and the EU’s Western Balkans Enterprise Development & Innovation Facility (EDIF) under the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF).

We’re proud to support the Western Balkans in building stronger VC ecosystems and fostering sustainable entrepreneurial development.

Global Collaboration at the Strategy Tools Master Trainer Program

In September 2024, we hosted the 4th Strategy Tools Master Trainer Program in Stavanger, bringing together an exceptional group of trainers from across the globe. Participants joined us from Bahrain, Germany, Brazil, Austria, Canada, Malaysia, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Egypt, and Norway for an immersive week of learning, collaboration, and exploration.

Participants visited leading organizations such as Equinor and Nysnø Climate Investments, gaining insights into their strategic approaches to energy and sustainability. We also dived into Strategy Tools simulations, including Scale Up!, Fund Manager!, and Transform, equipping trainers with the knowledge and skills to drive impactful strategic transformations within their own networks and organizations.

This year’s program strengthened our global network of Strategy Tools-certified trainers and fostered invaluable connections among professionals dedicated to driving strategic transformation worldwide. Join us for 2025’s program. Sign up here.

Training Corporates for Change from Within

2024 marked a significant deepening of our collaboration with large corporations, as we partnered with industry leaders to drive transformative change from within.

One of our standout was with Norway’s largest bank, DNB, where we supported their efforts to elevate their startup advisory services. Using Strategy Tools’ frameworks, we worked to equip DNB’s Oppstart & Vekst team with the skills and methodologies needed to better guide startups through critical stages of growth, creating a stronger connection between the bank and the innovation ecosystem.

Another major highlight was our engagement with one of Europe’s top automobile manufacturers, where we used the Building the Transformational Company, and the Transform! Simulation to address challenges in transformation strategy. Through this hands-on approach, we trained their strategy team to explore new ways to navigate complex industry shifts, foster innovation, and adapt to the future of mobility.

These collaborations are part of our ongoing mission to enable corporations to embrace change, build resilience, and foster innovation. By leveraging tools like the Transform! Simulation and tailored training programs, we’re helping companies empower their teams, rethink strategy, and drive meaningful, sustainable impact from the inside out.

2024 was a remarkable year of growth and achievement for Strategy Tools. As we look toward 2025, we’re excited to continue helping leaders, ecosystems, and organizations solve their most complex challenges. To all our clients, partners, and friends — thank you for being part of this incredible journey. Here’s to building better futures together!

December 20, 2024/0 Comments/by Jolene Foo-Hodne

Insights, Startups

From pre-idea to post-IPO with DNB’s startup & growth experts

What role does a bank play in the entrepreneurial ecosystem? Well, as it turns out, a pretty significant one. Since 2014 DNB has supported more than 20.000 startups on their startup journey. With programs like Founders, DNB NXT, 100 Pitches, digital health accelerators, startup coaches and growth mentors; DNB has developed probably the most robust startup support infrastructure amongst the traditional European banks (bravo, DNB!).

Earlier this week 25 of the bank’s ‘founder focused’ staff went through the Scale Up! (from idea to exit) Masterclass. Over 2 packed days and a very long night (for some of us), we took the bankers through every step of the Founder’s Journey.

The Founder’s Journey, from pre-idea to post-exit…….

Working in six teams, the 25 participants selected their (case) company and were off to the races. Over the following days (and night) the teams went through a truly immersive experience as startup founders on the Founder’s journey.

DAY ONE

Six companies, all pre-idea, ready to launch

Early idea-stage (what are we doing, again??) The teams selected Company Cards covering healthcare (strong sector), cleantech, robotics, drone technology and subsea robotics (fish, not oil, btw).

Early strategy Aspirations, ambitions, business model and early customer profiles

Problem-solution fit, anyone?

Early burn rate Turns out, it is expensive to launch and scale a company these days

Startup pitches Just like in real life, got to pitch to impress

Day one, pitch sessions. A nice way to get introduced into the ecosystem.

Early fundraising & term sheets Just like in real-life, things start nice and easy, only to expand and extend into complex term sheets, liquidation preference, board seats and reverse vesting schemes.

Early cap table math and cap table management Pre-money, post-money, SAFE conversion, advisor equity, option program; participants got a chance to dive deep into the joys of equity math. Using our custom-built Cap Table engine, every founder/CFO can manage the cap table, but it still takes work to manage every part of the cap table through 8-12 funding rounds, including preference rights and various unpaid advisor shares… Entrepreneurial finance can be a lot of fun, for the right CFOs.

Investor segmentation Using the Investor Map, we segment all investor prospects into 2×2, to find the most relevant investors, aka the Value Developers

Early revenue growth Or, as the case with one team, how to ramp up your revenue aggressively, to hit 90M ARR in year 1 (in real life, it took Wiz 18 months to pass the 100M ARR milestone)

Wiz – a rocketship to 100M ARR in 18 months. Incredible! (Wheel Tech got to 90M in 12m…)

Climate strategy & securing global climate advisor These days, every company is a climate tech company, so the teams naturally developed their climate strategy and pitched VC expert and Stanford faculty Don Wood to bring him onboard as a strategic advisor.

Capital strategy Using the Long-Term Funding Roadmap, the participants mapped out a longer-term capital strategy, using the following formulas: 3X valuation increase for every round (very challenging) 10% – 25% dilution for every round (challenging) Tracking a valuation to revenue metric of ca. 10X across all rounds

Chasing Unicorns Closing out day 1 with the first ever “bank-born” Unicorn, Wheel Tech, on a mission to change how robotics and logistics run our societies.

Chasing unicorn bragging rights and fresh cash infusion

Hectic capital market Closing out day 1, we say 23 equity financing rounds completed, one unicorn, one pony (half-a-unicorn), and valuations ranging from 1,3BN to 20M. Maybe more important, ARRs were ranging from 90M (very impressive) all the way down to a ‘yet to launch’ strategy and zero ARR.

Day 1 scoreboard: not bad with 23 funding rounds completed in today’s market.

While overnight was intended for a great meal and personal reflection, one team could not quite let it go, and spent six more hours, till well past midnight trying to structure a friendly M&A, and when that didn’t work out, playing for a hyper aggressive hostile take-over.

DAY TWO

Kicking off day two, the participants stepped into the ‘hypergrowth’ part of the journey. Now, we were on a mission to scale. It was time to 5X ARRs and 10X valuations to outrace and outcompete the competition. The rosy days of early-stage entrepreneurship was out and it was time to really put in the work needed at the later stages of the Founder’s Journey.

High performance under pressure; founders multi-tasking in real time

Outcome Scenarios One of the least understood concepts for most founders in the world of entrepreneurship (in our view, at least) is the idea of Outcome Analysis, or rather ‘if an investor invest, what is he/she likely to get back?’. Wow, how I wish more founders understood this (hey, we run a separate bootcamp just on this). For the bankers, the concept of Outcome Scenarios were easy to grasp, but hard to master. Few were able to nail it right off the bat (hey, they only had 45. Minutes, and impressed us with the results achieved in that time.

Outcome Scenario on Cloud Battery, using the Outcome Canvas.

Building a strategic board Just like in real life, a strategic board is vital for the company’s growth. Naturally, the participants had to dive in and build a world-class board, including roles, names and compensation structures.

Excessive burn rate While day one, the early days for founders, day two quickly saw costs spiral completely out of control, and settle at 10M per round, a 100X cost increase from the start of day 1; just like in real-life…

Growth stage financing

Working into the second part of the day, or the later stages of the Founder’s Journey, teams were racing to stay liquid, with some securing emergency bank facilities to stay afloat (after all, they are bankers, right?) and other teams, fueled by strong ARR growth, access to debt financing and a thriving investor market was sitting on piles of cash. One of the most popular investors to run into; Peach Ventures.

Peach Ventures; the perfect growth investor for you?

Complex deal structures

Naturally, as a scaling founder, you will meet complicated terms and deals. Can you make the deal with Hull Street work?

Exit Strategy As with any great startup, sooner or later, it is time to discuss that ‘exit part’ of the journey. Same goes for our DNB participants. Of course, as bankers, they held massive insider information benefits, allowing them to nail the exit strategy discussion in record time.

Upcoming board meeting Of course, sprinting through the Founder’s Journey, there sooner or later comes a time to exit. In our case, the board was eager to see a successful listing, allow the company to seek a winning public market position. Easy? Not all. Happens in real life? All the time.

Board Meeting e-mail from your chair; time to go public. Are you up for it?

Our Masterclass ended with all teams seeking a public market outcome, with Oslo, Tokyo and Nasdaq as the exchanges of choice.

Charting the roadmap for Hypercare’s IPO

POST-IPO As the post-IPO dust settled, all IR teams were up and running and the market priced the companies, the performance of the six teams (five, as one merger had taken place) showed Hypercare with a 60BN public market valuation, making it the 21st most valuable company in Japan (congrats), and Subsea Robotics becoming the 15th most valuable company on the OSL stock market. Not bad for two days work….

Post-IPO scoreboard. Notice the impressive founder’s equity posts.

Closing out, the participants got a chance to reflect on the founder’s journey, the challenges founders face in scaling companies beyond the pre-seed stage and how the bank can continue to evolve and mature its offerings to best support startups and scale ups alike.

While none of these founders got to see any liquidity from their efforts (happens in real-life way too often too), the Masterclass served as a great learning opportunity, exposing everyone to the early- (day 1) and later- (day 2) stages of the Founder’s journey, including key topics like capital strategy, outcome scenarios and exit strategy. To all the teams, well done! (and please keep expanding the bank’s role in supporting founders and the companies of tomorrow.

six teams, 25 participants. three facilitators

FACILITATOR NOTE

Scale Up! From idea to exit, is our contribution to the global startup- and scale up ecosystem. In just 2- or 3-days, we are able to pack massive amounts of learning, while also making it highly engaging, competitive and entertaining. Participants learn all key aspects of early-stage financing and growth, including cap table math, term sheets, capital strategy and, going into day 2 or 3, also the changing landscape of growth stage financing. The materials cover 100’s of real-life investors, terms, conditions and get updated monthly to reflect changes in the global startup landscape (down rounds, anyone?)

This year alone, Scale Up! Is run in places like Egypt, Austria, Germany, Norway, Canada, Bahrain, Ghana, Italy, United States, the UK, as well as multiple online sessions for global participants.

The session at DNB was run by Henrik Amstutz, Kyrre Lemvik and Chris Rangen. A big thanks to the impressive participants and the work they are doing for the Nordic ecosystem and beyond!

Join us to build better entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world. Explore Scale Up! Today.

October 24, 2024/0 Comments/by Christian Rangen

Insights, Venture Capital

VC: Education vs Acceleration – A Shortlist of 40+ Top Learning Programs in Venture Capital

VC Lab or Allocator One? Sanabil x 500 or Newton Venture Program? Coolwater Capital or Thema? Pitch Me First or Baby.VC? 2X Ignite or IMD’s Venture Asset Management? Classroom learning, fellowship or acceleration? For new and experienced people in the global venture capital space, the number of learning opportunities has just exploded. How can current and aspiring fund managers navigate in the 40+ programs out there?

By: Christian Rangen
September 2024

This blogpost is a part of our wider research on VC Ecosystems.
Pre-register for the full report here
Disclaimer: the author is faculty, program management, mentor or advisor to several of the programs mentioned in this post.

———————

The venture capital industry is booming, with more than 10X growth in AUM (assets under management), and 6X number of new firms since 2008. But how do new managers learn the ropes? What are the learning paths in the venture capital space?

Over the past five years we have been teaching, educating and accelerating more than 250 fund managers across different strategies and markets. For us, it has been an immensely rewarding journey, helping us better learn the global market, the nuances of LP value propositions, explain portfolio constructions and describe the key roles on a GP fundraising team.

During this work, we started the research behind ‘Scaling VC ecosystems’, and our learning journey took on a far more structured, research-focused approach. Researching more deeply the learning programs, educational offerings and accelerators available to managers globally, we identified a rapidly growing number of programs. This perked our curiosity. We dug in.

40+ Unique Programs

In total, to date, we have identified 40+ unique programs (and we are guaranteed to discover many more yet to come). High-level, we separate these 40 programs in two main categories education vs. acceleration.

*Mapping the landscape of 40+ VC education and acceleration programs* (2024)

For Education, we believe the primary focus of the group is to teach, develop skills and expand mastery of venture capital. This can be done in a classroom, online, immersive in the Valley or through extensive fellowships.

For Acceleration, we believe the primary focus is to help and support the fund managers to more quickly launch the fund and get to first and final close. In most cases, this is a process that can take 18 months, easily up to a few years. With the right support, it can be accelerated to just months.

Eight Strategic Groups

We structure these 40+ programs in eight strategic groups. Each group representing a collection of programs available.

Duration:
Short: 2-to-5 day duration
Medium: 4 week to 12 week
Long: 4 months to 24 months

Primary focus:
Learning: classroom or teaching format.
Goal: learn the fundamentals

Fellowship & learning: Community and action-based learning
Goal: Learn through network and experience

Acceleration: Supporting (back office) and accelerating fund managers to first and final close
Goal: Support a faster timeline to fund setup and closing

The Eight Groups –
Understanding the Learning Landscape

1. VC Associations

Globally, venture capital associations offer a wide array of education programs. From 2-day ESG Masterclasses, 3-day Fund Manager Masterclasses, 2-day Exit Masterclasses and 4-day fund reporting programs, these are usually between 1-day and 5-day in duration, and tend to be class-room or workshop based.Well developed ecossytems, like the UK, offer professional credits, like CPD accreditation to participants, allowing the participants to profile their education on LinkedIn and professional resume.

Selected examples:

Sanabil x 500 VC Unlocked

A week-long course designed to train and empower emerging fund managers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Learn more

How to Plan an Optimal Exit

1-day, in-person masterclass on planning and delivering successful exits in your portfolio.
Learn more

AVCA – African Venture Capital Association
Venture Capital Masterclass in Partnership with EAVCA

2-day, in-person masterclass on successful VC funds
Learn more

VC & PE Limited Partners Program

A 3-day, in-person program for educating LPs on VC and PE fund investing in the Middle East.
Learn more

2. Short-Term Educational Programs

A growing number of business schools are offering world-class education programs in the venture capital space. These programs are aimed at existing fund managers, emerging fund managers, Limited Partners and ecosystem builders.

These programs also tend to sit in the 2-day to 5-day range. Taught by world-class faculty, these programs offer more academic recognition than our previous group of VC Association delivered programs.

Notable examples:

IMD Venture Asset Management

2-day program with a focus on how Limited Partners and asset managers can understand the market and better make investment decisions into venture capital funds. Faculty: Jim Pulcrano
Learn more

Berkeley Venture Capital Executive Program

5-day executive program to learn how to skillfully navigate the venture capital world, delivered in the heart of Silicon Valley, or online. Faculty: Jerome Engel
Learn more

3. Short-term Immersion

Short-term immersive programs take participants into the field, allowing them to meet funds, meet founders and experience the ecosystem up close and personally.

These programs tend to run over 1-2 weeks, allowing a more ‘get out of the classroom’ approach to learning than traditional executive education programs do.

Notable examples:

Stanford x 500 VC Unlocked

With over 400 completed participants to date, the Stanford x 500 VC unlocked program offers participants the chance to experience the Silicon Valley ecosystem personally.
Learn more

Venture University

Venture University offers a range of executive education and acceleration programs. Their VC Masterclass offers participants to join in San Francisco, Hong Kong or online.
Learn more

4. Medium-Term Education

Next, medium-term education programs tend to run from 12 weeks to 12 months. They often combine in-person and online formats, for maximum flexibility. Still designed around classrooms, they tend to be run by large business schools, or at least in partnership with leading business schools.

Notable examples:

Newton Venture Program (London)

Offering three programs, Foundations, Fundamentals and Fellowship, NVP working in partnership with LBS, has brought a strong diversity lens to the VC education landscape in Europe and beyond.
Learn more

Columbia Business School: Venture Capital: Investing in Early-Stage Startups

Building on its success with shorter-term programs, Professor Angela Lee has designed a robust and flexible program covering both venture capital and private equity.
Learn more

5. Medium-Term Fellowships and Learning Programs

Our next category, fellowships and community-based programs tend to happen outside of the confines of academia, usually offering a ‘learning by doing’ mindset vs. educational credits. While business schools may partner with these programs, they largely tend to be

Notable examples include:

Dream VC (Africa)

With an impressive growth since its launch in 2021, Dream VC has already delivered programs for 170+ participants, from across 30+ different countries. Offering both a Launch into VC (entry) and Investor Accelerator (intermediate), Dream VC has had significant impact on the African VC ecosystem already.
Learn more

Dubai Future District Fund Fellowship

Based in Dubai, the DFDF fellowship is a 6-month program aimed at fostering the next generation of Emirati venture investors.
Learn more

Included VC

A fully-funded, 5-month global VC fellowship, the Included VC program is aimed at helping top talent break into VC for the first time. Think of us like a “unique fast-track MBA for venture capital” for extraordinary leaders, says Included VC.
Learn more

6. Long-Term Fellows Program

Globally, the single most sought-after VC learning program is likely the Kauffman Fellows Program. It also sits as the only program in our Long-term Fellows Program group.

A two-year fellows program with three pillars, expert-led workshops (20%), expert-led keynotes and lectures (40%) and peer-learning (40%), the Kauffman program

In operations since 1995, the Kauffman Fellows have 940+ alumni in 61 countries. As a network, the Fellows represent over $290 billion in assets under management, have collectively raised over $790 billion dollars in capital, and have been responsible for over $8.5 trillion in exits to LPs. While very challenging to get accepted and , at $80.000 + travels, pricey for most emerging managers to afford, the Program is one of the absolutely pillars of building out the global VC ecosystem, one network connection at the time.

https://www.kauffmanfellows.org

*Snapshot of the Kauffman Fellows Program, 2024*

So far we’ve looked at education programs, either in the classroom, in the field or through engaging fellowships. These programs vary in target audience, ranging from anyone who wants to break into VC, aspiring managers, emerging managers, seasoned managers, limited partners and ecosystem builders.

The next two groups are both designed around accelerating first-time and emerging fund managers.

While still a learning journey, the accelerator model means that the participants are all in various stages of (trying to) raise their fund, completing the legal setup and back office or successfully reaching their targeted closing milestones for the fund. These participants may still very well have more to learn, but their focus is closing real deals, winning over skeptical LPs, securing enough working capital, hire their next team members and handle all aspects of back office and reporting.

This is where our accelerators come in. Just like with a startup accelerator, these programs are designed to make things go faster, smoother and hopefully better than the founders (in our case the General Partners) would have been able to do themselves.

For all practical purposes, we are now trying to accelerate investors, not startups. Here we find two strategic groups, with a growing number of programs.

7. Medium-Term Accelerators

Medium-term accelerators tend to run from 4 to 8 weeks (up to 14 weeks), offering extensive support on network, introduction and fund manager readiness.

These programs come with different business models, from government-backed, free to attend, to participation fee for the GPs.

Notable examples:

Coolwater Capital’s Build Program

Having published two books on how to raise and set up VC funds, Coolwater founder Winter Meads has established himself as a thought leader for emerging managers. Coolwater’s Build GP accelerator program has supported 200+ funds over 9 cohorts to date. Coolwater also makes selected LP commitments intoemerging fund managers.
Learn more

Moremi Platform

Based in East Africa, the Moremi Platform is an intensive 4-week program that provides structured training, investment readiness, technical assistance and network to early-stage gender smart funds on the continent. A partnership between Kuramo Capital and Solt Advisory, Moremi is launching its first cohort in 2H 2024.

Learn more

VC Lab

This article would not have been complete without mentioning (paying respect, really) to Adeo Ressi and the team at VC Lab. Since inception in early 2020, VC Lab has run 15 cohorts, received 17.000 applications and accelerated 501 funds globally. Their mission: help launch 1000 new VC firms worldwide by 2025. With a free, 14-week curriculum, and a target to close funds in under 6 months (vs. industry standard of 18+ months), VC Lab is the global #1 GP accelerator. Recently, they also expanded with LP Institute, accelerating new limited partners globally.

Learn more

8. Long-Term Accelerators

Taking a longer-view on the challenges of raising a VC fund, the long-term accelerators work very closely with the GP team over a series of months and beyond to secure not only a successful fund raise, but also the longer-term back office, reporting, deployment and financial impact.

In this group, most of the programs are either government backed (free to attend), for a fee & success rate, or the program takes an ownership in the GP Structure. A notable difference between the short- and long-term accelerators, is that the long-term accelerators tend to offer or bring in capital to the managers. This can be done through working capital loans (ICFA), warehousing (2X Ignite) or LP anchor commitment (Thema, Allocator One).

Contrary to short-term educational programs, these long-term accelerators aim to be genuine, long-term partners on your journey. This includes capital, network, services and a long-term community and network lens. In the case of PMF (Pitch Me First), they offer a 6-month program, focused on raising institutional LP funding, and then extending this with another 6-month post-program support.

Notable examples:

International Climate Finance Accelerator

An independent non-profit association, set up as a public-private partnership in 2018 under the Luxembourg Climate Finance Strategy, ICFA is backed by the Luxembourg government, industry and the EIB. On a mission to accelerating the climate finance leaders of tomorrow, ICFA is the number one climate VC accelerator globally.

Since its launch, ICFA has backed 34 fund managers over 7 cohorts, now tracking more than $3,3BN in AUM with the program alumni. In June 2024, the Luxembourg government announced the expansion of ICFA to include the ISFA – International Social Finance Accelerator

Learn more

2X Ignite GP Sprint

Probably, the world’s leading six-month gender-lens accelerator, the 2X GP Sprint is completing its 3^rd cohort, having accelerated 25+ VC/PE/SME and debt funds since its inception.

Designed by a 120+ large community of GPs, LPs, allocators, advisors and experts, the 2X Ignite is a part of the larger 2X Global gender finance platform on a mission to unlocking gender-smart capital at scale. 2X Ignite aims to accelerate the next generation of women-led, gender-smart fund managers – and to fund underrepresented founders.

2X Ignite is currently building out multiple pillars, including free digital academy, warehousing capital, working capital and global LP networks.

Learn more

Allocator One

Coming out of the European tech ecosystem, the team behind Allocator One runs a 12-week, intense program to accelerate first time, (ideally, sub-$30M funds) to first close. Aiming to invest in the best new fund managers all over the world, Allocator One becomes an early LP in your fund (think, pre-seed investor), with €1M – €2M in LP commitment, with 1% management fee and 10% carry.

Beyond the program and early LP anchor, Allocator One offers a full menu of fund services, including back office, reporting and compliance, potentially saving emerging managers months of work and frustrations.
Learn more

Designing Ellen’s Learning Journey

In startup life, founders can – in some cases – jump from accelerator to accelerator, joining a pre-seed program, an impact program, a CVC program and a flagship scale up program, all in the span of a few years.

In venture capital, the education and learning ecosystem is much less developed, with fewer programs, most of more recent vintages (keep in mind, programs like VC Lab, Dream VC and Coolwater Capital’s Build program were all launched in the last four years). But, as it turns out, with the recent rise in education and acceleration, emerging and experienced fund managers can, in fact, design a learning and development journey spanning multiple programs and multiple accelerators.

We’ve illustrated this with a selection of 19 programs, featured below.

*Design your learning journey in the VC space*

Ellen’s Journey in Venture

Let’s go through this journey with a story about Ellen, our over-ambitious, aspiring fund looking to break into venture, along the way going through five different stage of her learning journey.

Stage 1: Breaking into venture

With 2-years in corporate finance, and another 4 years as an operator in an AI climate startup, Ellen is starting to think about a future career in venture capital, but where to begin?

Her first step?
Venture Deals, the book and the online, 6-week program is a good way to get started. Next, with the motivation in place, either taking the 16-week Going VC course or the Newton Venture Program’s Foundations online course (hey, it’s free) could be great next steps.

With that learning completed, Ellen could start following a few Podcasts, like 20VC or EU.VC, or book up a few books like the Business of Venture Capital and Raise: the female founder’s guide to securing investments.

Next, looking to expand her network in the industry, Ellen could apply for Dream VC (if she was based in Africa) or Included.VC (if she was located in Europe). Both competitive programs would offer excellent learning opportunities, network and community to build her foundation to join the industry full-time.

Stage 2: Getting the idea for the first fund

As months pass, and Ellen realizes she has an appetite for all things VC, she may realize that her career path is not joining an established VC firm, like Passion Capital, Atomico or 500; but rather launch her own early-stage, first-time VC fund.

At this stage, with things starting to get serious, she might choose to sign up for VC Lab, and sprint through their 14-week online program. This could keep her busy, with sessions and deliverables easily taking up 25+ hours per week. But, with the time invested, she would also be fast-tracking her fund’s investment thesis, strategy, portfolio construction, deal access and – notably – her LP mapping. Realizing, building a solo GP fund is hard, she could bring in 1-2 more like-minded investment partners, and set the foundation for their first fund C.AI Fund I, managed by the firm, Climate AI Capital Partners (not yet legally set up, though).

Alongside her two trusted partners, Ellen might choose to apply for Thema (UK) or Allocator One (Austria), both strong, early backers to first-time fund managers and excellent choices for an early-stage, smaller funds.

Stage 3: Launching Fund I

Six months into the journey, and getting closer to the coveted first-close, Ellen and her team might realize that the International Climate Finance Accelerator in Luxembourg might be an excellent choice to secure some working capital, access the LP ecosystem and get more strategic support for their climate x AI thesis.

Alternately, with more of an emerging market focus, maybe looking to deploy 50% of the fund with a gender-lens into SE Asia or the Middle East, Ellen and her team might choose to apply to the 2X Ignite GP Sprint and get full access to the strategic advisors, learning platform, community, in-person training sessions, in-person LP meet ups, LP network and more.

Both options would be strong accelerators to help the fund push towards first, second and final close. Maybe, along the way, Ellen may join 1-2 VC association trainings, like the BVCA’s Financial Modelling course or ESG course.

Stage 4: Launching Fund II

With a sub-$30M in the bag and partially deployed, the clock is now ticking on fund II. After all, those management fees only go so far with just one fund, right?

Recognizing that ‘what got us here will not get us there’, Ellen starts looking at support to access those institutional LPs. She lands on a few choices. First, she signs up for the Newton Venture Program’s flagship program, Fellowship, running over six months. This helps her build out her network and reflect more deeply on the market position and strategy of fund II. Next, if she’s aiming to stay in Europe, the Luxembourg-based Pitch Me First, six-month program will help the fund get ready for institutional LPs. Yet, looking more towards the US market, Coolwater Capital’s Build program is looking attractive to access more US-centric LP networks. Tough choice, though choice. But, with her eyes towards Europe, Ellens lands on Pitch Me First, choosing to save Coolwater for the work on fund III, in about two more years (fast fundraising cycles).

With the support of her new-found network and accelerator program, Ellen and her team breezes into a successful over-subscribed closing of fund II, now with $80M AUM.

On her first vacation in two years, in Rome, Ellen spends her evenings sipping red wine, reading up on the Exit Path book and reviewing her notes from the recent BVCA training on how to deliver successful exits.

Stage 5: Launching Fund III

Time flies when managing VC funds, and the team is maxed out deploying in line with the stated strategy and helping portfolio on advancing climate technologies and climate impact. Never mind, dealing with a shifting regulatory landscape, building out FOAK financing skills, hiring strategic CFOs in the portfolio and closing follow-on deals with Seres B-D funds.

Three years after the successful closing of fund II, and a respectable 2,1X DPI in fund I and 1,8X MOIC in fund II, fund III is knocking. This time, there is an urgent need to start meeting US-based LPs and generally expand both professional networks and trusted co-investors. It is time to take a step up, and apply to the Kauffman Fellows Program…..

What is Your Learning Path?

While, over the past five years, the available education and acceleration programs have exploded, much work remains to build out a better, more equitable and balanced VC industry globally.

We hope that a continued, professional development of new education programs, new fellowships and new accelerators both can and will continue to drive the industry forward.

We hope this article can help aspiring, emerging and established managers choose their own learning journeys, over time leading to better networks, better managers and ultimately better outcome for founders, GPs LP and the ecosystems overall.

Are you looking to develop a VC education or acceleration program?

Talk to us at hello@strategytools.io

Want to read more of our recent research?

Pre-register for the upcoming Scaling VC ecosystems report and watch out for our upcoming blog post Building a GP Accelerator.

September 24, 2024/0 Comments/by Christian Rangen

Insights, Venture Capital

The Four Types of Emerging Managers

Imagine you are planning to summit Mount Everest, or participate in the Paris-Dakar rally, or run your first Ironman competition. Naturally, you would want to spend years preparing, training, researching and building your own mastery. The alternative would likely be gambling for luck or facing a harsh and brutal reality check.

The same goes for emerging fund managers. We are on a mission to help future-, first-time and emerging fund managers be as prepared as possible for the journey ahead. We are on a mission to fundamentally alter the odds for emerging managers, notably in the gender- and climate space.

In our work with 100’s and 100’s of emerging managers around the world we have noticed a pattern in terms of ‘setting yourself up for success’. While we never question the intelligence, dedication and persistence, we have found there are very different profiles trying to set up a first-time fund. Some are naturally more successful than others. In this post we try to map out, identify these profiles. We call them “the Tourist”, “The Fund Expert”, “The Networker” and “The High Performer”. In our day to day, we see them all. We have also written a short outline, a challenge and some possible solutions for each of the four.

Our hope is that this short guide will help future emerging managers set themselves up for success in the best possible way, reduce the time it takes to set up a first-time fund and overall increase the odds for future gender- and climate fund managers.

The Tourist

The Tourist is “looking around, want to do something exciting”. Got some names, but very limited market knowledge and LP relationship.

The Tourist is frequently deeply passionate around the theme (climate, gender, tech, equality, etc), but may have only patchy professional experience in the theme.

Often, the Tourist has seen certain elements of private market investing (like angel or SPV deals), but never appreciated the full complexity of raising LP funding and operating one or multiple fund vehicles.

While extra challenging, Tourists do raise funds and eventually grow into experienced fund managers, but the probability to raise the first fund is low and the workload to get there will be excessive.

Challenge

Significant challenges to reach successful close within a reasonable (18 months) timeframe. May get a lot of meetings, but clearly not hitting GP-LP fit. The process may drag on – possibly for years- without really making any fundamental progress. May be able to raise the fund, eventually, but limited understanding of the work required to operate the fund.

Solution

Reflect deeply whether you have the drive, motivation and grit to raise this fund. Recruit people with proven experience, possibly even more senior than yourself. Recruit experienced talent into roles as mentor, LPAC, advisory board, board and venture partners. Find a really good fund administrator, legal advisor, accountant and auditor. Consider joining a GP accelerator program like VC Lab, 2X Ignite, DFDF Fellows, Coolwater or Dream VC. Seek out more education. Consider taking a full-time job in the industry for another 1-5 years to build your expertise, network and long-term chances of success.

Four Types of Tourists

Quick departure:
Wow, this is really hard. Goodbye! Goes back to consulting, banking or C-level job.

Optimistic beginner:
Not learning, not developing, but remaining very (overly) optimistic, struggles to raise the fund. Not sure why.

Emerging realist:
Slowly recognizing this is hard, will be hard. Was not ready for the level of difficulty and amount of rejection. Sours on all things early-stage investing. Push through?

Strong learner:
Learning the ropes quickly. Able to grow into an Expert role and engage well with LPs. Will evolve into any of the other categories over time.

The Fund Expert

The Fund Expert will usually have had a long and successful career in fund management, often at a large bank, a DFI or a fund-of-fund. She has often been on the other side of the table from emerging managers.

Challenge

Limited LP network. Limited experience with the networking, the sales work and the hustle required to get a new fund of the ground.

Solution

Reflect on the partnership as a group. Consider adding dedicated resources on fundraising, including Partners with more LP access. Consider using a placement agent. Consider working a few years in a different firm to build more LP relationships. Consider staying in the current job longer to allow more time to develop LP networks before branching out to start a fund.

The Networker

The Networker has most likely worked in an investment bank, BD role in a fund-of-fund, built angel networks, structured SPV deals or similar outward facing role.
Trusted name in the ecosystem.
May run a widely read newsletter.
Excellent stakeholder relationship skills.

Challenge

Limited professional experience from a VC/PE/SME/Debt fund. Unlikely to have much experience with the key building blocks of a fund, deal sourcing, legal setup, LP search, portfolio value creation, follow-on, exit strategies and LP returns, fund management and operations. Will most likely underestimate the challenges of operating a fund over a decade.

Solution

Consider bringing in partners with a different profile and skillset. Consider outsourcing all key aspects of fund admin and operations. Seek more education and training on all aspects of fund management. Notably, learn key elements around deal terms, investment memos, value creation and exits.

The High Performer

The High Performer has extensive, proven experience building, raising, running and operating funds. Most likely held multiple partner or senior leadership positions with previous funds. Proven ability to source deals, structure deal terms, make investments, support founders, and realize attractive returns for LPs. Has wide networks and deep relationships with possible LPs. High probability of finding GP-LP fit early on.

Challenge

Likely the first time setting up a new fund and firm. May underestimate the time required to get to first and final close. May underestimate the time and commitment required to get a full team up and running.

Solution

Bring in more experienced GPs as mentors, board members, advisory board members and team members. Set up a system for coaching and onboarding new team members faster. Be realistic on all timelines, from LPs, team members and deals.

______________

By identifying and addressing the distinct characteristics and hurdles faced by “The Tourist,” “The Fund Expert,” “The Networker,” and “The High Performer,” this guide offers essential insights and practical solutions to help future managers navigate the complexities of fund management. Our goal is to streamline their journey, increase their chances of success, and foster the development of impactful funds, particularly in areas like gender and climate. With the right preparation and understanding, emerging managers can turn their vision into a successful, sustainable reality.

September 11, 2024/0 Comments/by Christian Rangen

For Early-Stage Funds

For Growth And Late-Stage Funds

For Sector-Specific Funds

For Geographic-Specific Applications

For Different Fund Sizes

Customization Guidelines

Implementation Roadmap

Key Lessons For GP Teams

Implementing The Canvas

The Malaysian Context

From Startups To Capital

Transparency In The Market

What’s The Mission Of A National, Government-Linked Fund-Of-Funds?

Where Does Malaysia’s VC Ecosystem Sit?

Interpreting The Data

Here Are A Few Quick Facts:

Further Facts:

So, What Does This Mean For The Great Mavcap Misfire?

But, This Dataset Is A Highly Incomplete Dataset And Zero Conclusions Should Be Drawn From This.

Always Track TVPI And DPI

Three Examples When Adding TVPI

BASE CASE

BASE CASE: 2033 ALL FUNDS FULLY DIVESTED

BULL CASE

BULL CASE: 2033 ALL FUNDS FULLY DIVESTED

BEAR CASE

BEAR CASE: 2033 ALL FUNDS FULLY DIVESTED

Venture Capital Is Hard – And Even Harder In Developing Markets

What’s Next For Malaysia?

The Story Of Scaling Leo Bank From Idea To Exit In The Middle East. Part II: Scaling Up (Series A,B)

Sure, Only 10% – 15% Of Companies Successful Make The Jump From Seed To Series A, But This Was A Tall Order Still.

“The Region’s Banking Favorite Secures Strong Series A”, Read The Press Release When The News Were Released During GITEX.

Cap Table, Post-Series A

Setting Up A Strategic Board

Team Shake Up

Cap Table – Updated Post-Malik’s Departure

Market Expansion: Where Do We Ramp Up Next?

Revenue Growth

Momentum Going Into Series B

Cap Table Post Series B

Now, The Stage Was Set For The Next Growth Phase. Could The Team Take Leo Bank Past Tabby’s Explosive Growth?

Read Next…

Part III: Growth Stage (Series C,D To Exit)

Part I: The Early Days (Start Up Phase, Seed)

Scale Up Mena!

The Story Of Scaling Leo Bank From Idea To Exit In The Middle East. Part III: Growth Stage (Series C,d To Exit)

“What Does Your Outcome Canvas Look Like?”, The Question From The Investment Team At Future Fund Oman Had Taken The Founders Aback. Outcome? Canvas?

Series C Led By PIF

Cap Table Post Series C, With PIF

Market Expansion, Market Expansion

Dealing With Massive Scaling Challenges

Closing Series D With Future Fund Oman

Cap Table Post Series D With FFO

Cap Table Post Series E With FFO

Rebranding, Product Expansion

Exit Paths

Tackling Growth Pains, Leadership And Culture Issues

Series F – Led By Mubadala

The Mubadala Secondaries Transaction

Cap Table Post Series F With Mubadala

In Conversations With Mubadala, The Investment Team Commended Them, “You’ve Really Managed To Structure A Clean And Balanced Cap Table. We Don’t See That Too Often. Well Done.”

Taking On Venture Debt At Scale

Negotiating On Incoming Acquisition Offers

Ultimately, The Board Had Turned Down All Four Aacquisition Offers.

Charting A Strategic Path: Going Public On Tadawul

Ultimately, The Board Decision Was Clear. Leo Would Go For A Local LPO, Led By A Total Of 9 Investment Banks, Under The Guidance Of Emirates NDB Capital.

Understanding Ultimate Ownership And The Impact On The Ecosystem

IPO Readiness

The Decision Had Been Made. Leo Was Going Public On Tadawul.

Roadshow And Valuation Multiples

That Slide Had Sealed The Decision For Most Cornerstone Investors In The LPO.

IPO Celebration

The Team From Emirates Capital Had Been Clear. “Some People Call It An Exit. It Is Not. Going From A Privately Held Company To Becoming A Public Company Is Not An Exit. It Is A Transition. It’s A Step On Your Founder’s Journey.”

CAP TABLE AT IPO

“At A 1.240x Return, This Has Been One Of The Most Amazing Founder Journeys Ever, In Mena”, Having Backed Leo Since The Early Days, Shorooq Partners Were Delighted To Announce The Outcome For Their Limited Partners On An Update Call On The Same Day As The LPO. It Was A Huge Win For Their Fund.

“Dude, That’s The Stuff That Legends Are Made Of”, Philip Had Said On The Podcast.

The End. For Now.

Did You Enjoy Leo’s Journey?

Scale Up MENA! Launching In August 2025

Along The Way, You Learn How To Read Term Sheets, Structure Investment Rounds, Develop Your Growth Strategy, Build Paths To Liquidity, Speak In Investor Outcome Terms And Complete An Exit Transaction – All Core Skills You Need To Scale Your Real-life Start Up

The Eight Groups –
Understanding the Learning Landscape

AVCA – African Venture Capital Association
Venture Capital Masterclass in Partnership with EAVCA