Latest news with #seedstage
Wamda
4 days ago
- Business
- Wamda
F6 Group unveils F6 Ventures to propel seed-stage investments in MENA
F6 Group launches F6 Ventures, a new seed-stage investment firm, alongside Flat6Labs, to support startups across the Middle East and Africa. The newly launched VC fund will manage six funds with over $90 million in assets under management (AUM), focusing on seed and early-stage investments. F6 Ventures will address funding gaps in emerging ecosystems, focusing on the critical pre-seed and seed stages. Co-founded by Dina el-Shenoufy and Ramez El-Serafy, with regional partners Eyad Albayouk, Ryaan Sharif, Rasha Manna, Walid Triki, and Christine Namara, F6 Ventures brings decades of expertise to support founders and startups. F6 Ventures plans to launch new regional funds in Africa, the GCC, and the Levant, targeting $200 million in AUM and investments in over 200 companies within five years. Press release: F6 Group, a newly formed entity integrating venture capital and entrepreneurial support, announces its official launch, anchored by two powerful arms: F6 Ventures, a newly launched seed-stage investment firm, and Flat6Labs ( the region's most recognised startup accelerator platform. Together, they represent a bold evolution of the company's 14-year journey, bringing sharper focus, expanded reach, and deeper capabilities to support founders and ecosystems across the Middle East and Africa. At the core of this transformation is F6 Ventures, the Group's dedicated venture capital arm, which manages six funds with over $90 million in assets under management (AUM) and has a track record of 300+ companies invested in by the Partners. Focused on seed and early-stage investments across the Middle East and Africa, F6 Ventures is positioned to become a market leader in seed-stage investing across emerging ecosystems, as it addresses a pressing funding gap at the most critical phase of startup development: the pre-seed and seed stages. Co-Founded by Dina el-Shenoufy and Ramez El-Serafy, the firm leverages F6 Group's extensive regional presence and legacy of empowering entrepreneurial talent, through the long-standing work of Flat6Labs, previously under the leadership of el-Shenoufy and El-Serafy, to back visionary founders, scale tech-driven innovation, and create lasting value for stakeholders. "F6 Ventures marks a new era in our journey, bringing focused capital and sharper execution to support the region's boldest founders." said Dina el-Shenoufy, Co-Founder and General Partner at F6 Ventures. "We are extending our commitment to early-stage startups to help them scale from idea to impact." Backed by the extensive regional footprint and entrepreneurial legacy of F6 Group and headquartered in Cairo, with offices in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Amman Tunis, and Nairobi, F6 Ventures is also led by the regional partners, namely Eyad Albayouk, Ryaan Sharif, Rasha Manna, Walid Triki, and Christine Namara. Together, this seasoned leadership team brings decades of experience in venture capital, entrepreneurship, and market development across the Middle East and Africa. "Over more than a decade, we've empowered thousands of founders and helped bold ideas grow into market-leading startups. I'm excited to begin this new chapter with F6 Ventures helping founders scale faster and drive the next wave of innovation," said Ramez El-Serafy, Co-Founder and General Partner at F6 Ventures. Meanwhile, maintaining the regionally renowned brand name, and with the leadership of newly appointed CEO, Yehia Houry, Flat6Labs sharpens its focus on founder support, innovation, and ecosystem growth across emerging markets. Building on more than 14 years of proven impact, it remains the region's leading platform for world-class startup programmes and ecosystem-building initiatives, deepening its mission to empower entrepreneurs and drive regional innovation. Both entities operate under the unified structure of F6 Group, led by Dina el-Shenoufy as CEO and Hany Al Sonbaty, Founder and Chairman, ensuring a unified strategy that combines venture capital and entrepreneurial support programmes to advance innovation across emerging markets. Looking ahead, F6 Ventures plans to launch multiple new regional funds across Africa, the GCC, and the Levant, with a goal of expanding its AUMs to $200 million and investing in over 200 companies within the next five years. F6 Group brings together venture capital and founder support under one platform, purpose-built to serve startups across emerging markets. By aligning investment and programmatic expertise, F6 Group delivers unmatched access to capital, programmes, and expertise – turning visionary founders into market leaders.
TechCrunch
12-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
This American VC is betting on European defense tech; that's still very unusual
VCs are known to move in herds, which is why Eric Slesinger stands out a bit. While most American investors chase AI startups or U.S.-based defense tech startups, the former CIA officer is hunting for defense tech deals in Europe. In fact, Slesinger, founder of 201 Ventures, recently closed a $22 million fund focused on seed-stage European defense tech startups. His path from developing gadgets and software for CIA agents to becoming perhaps the only American VC exclusively investing in European defense tech also appears to be a prescient one. What would compel someone to leave 'the best first job ever' at the CIA to pursue this specific ambition? As Slesinger told TechCrunch in a recent StrictlyVC Download podcast interview, the answer came from identifying a critical shift that many missed. 'I left because I noticed that the private sector was increasingly playing a role in this competition that I previously had understood really to just be a government to government competition,' Slesinger explained. 'What became obvious more so every day was that the private sector was playing such a big role here.' With degrees from Stanford in mechanical engineering and Harvard Business School, Slesinger's background helped prepare him to bridge the gap between defense technology and commercial ventures. But it was his willingness to go against conventional wisdom that has made him interesting to investors, founders, and tech reporters alike. 'I have always enjoyed going where other people tend to not want to go,' said Slesinger. 'That was why I enjoyed the work at the CIA so much. A couple of things that people there used to say was, 'go where others don't go and do what they can't do.'' As for what U.S. VCs were missing, from Slesinger's point of view there were three things. First, 'Europe has individual entrepreneurs that are just as hungry, just as high conviction, and just as smart as anywhere else in the world.' Second, 'European governments waited way too long to rethink what the arrangement on their own security meant, and therefore hadn't actually taken a critical eye towards it.' And third, 'Europe was quickly being seen and will, in my opinion, continue to be the site of serious gray zone competition,' meaning activities by state or non-state actors that fall between traditional peace and outright war. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Slesinger's European venture has been the cultural resistance he says he encountered regarding defense investments. In 2022, after moving from the U.S. to Madrid, he started the European Defense Investor Network, which now includes entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers. In a 2023 Medium post, Slesinger wrote about how his European VC colleagues were afraid to talk about their defense related investments. Unlike in America, he told TechCrunch, defense tech investing in Europe 'was seen as uncouth, something that should be done but not spoken about, and certainly not spoken about in polite company at the dinner table.' (Slesinger quickly added, 'I'm exaggerating a little bit, but there's a kernel of truth there.') He says that cultural hesitance resulted in 'many founders thinking about it, deciding not to build a company in the [defense] space.' Now that's changing. The NATO Innovation Fund — the world's first multi-sovereign venture capital fund, backed by 24 NATO allies and launched in the summer of 2022 after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out — has helped. Indeed, it's a significant backer of 201 Ventures. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | BOOK NOW So has the attention garnered by up-and-coming defense tech startups on the continent, including Munich-based Helsing, which is developing AI for use on battlefields and is currently valued at more than $5 billion by its investors. Another up-and-comer in Slesinger's portfolio is Delian Alliance Industries, an Athens-based outfit developing surveillance towers to detect autonomous threats. Delian has so far raised seed funding but is a hot ticket that's surely being actively courted by VCs. With eight investments to date, 201 Ventures focuses on technologies that address that gray zone competition because, in Slesinger's words, it's 'happening at scale in Europe, and it will for the next couple of decades.' These market dislocations, he said, 'whether they're price inefficiencies or a government playing a larger role in a market that it might otherwise, if not for wanting a sovereign capability… these gray zone dislocations actually are a good form of alpha.' In addition to Delian, another of Slesinger's bets is Polar Mist, a Swedish startup producing maritime drones with advanced navigation capabilities. Other focus areas include hypersonics and subsurface mapping. One challenge in funding defense tech startups is the longer development timeline compared to traditional venture investments. Slesinger acknowledged this tension in his chat with TechCrunch: 'If you have a 10-year-venture-fund life cycle, that's a real thing that we sort of have to do things to try to accelerate or bend a little bit.' Slesinger also thinks that 'European companies ought to be doing more lobbying at much earlier stages.' Both raise questions about whether his gamble will pay off for investors. At the same time, his early vision for a more autonomous European defense ecosystem is becoming clearer to a whole lot of other investors these days as geopolitical tensions rise and Europe rethinks its security arrangements. Data published earlier this year by the NATO Innovation Fund and the research group Dealroom showed that European startups working on defense and related tech raised 24% more capital in 2024 than in 2023, hitting $5.2 billion — surpassing even AI funding. With President Donald Trump returning to office in January and casting doubt on the U.S.'s commitment to European defense, that figure is likely to climb even higher.
TechCrunch
06-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Why Eric Slesinger, a former CIA officer, is now funding European defense tech
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Strictly VC's Alex Gove speaks with Eric Slesinger from 201 Ventures, a firm focused on seed-stage defense tech startups in Europe. They discuss Slesinger's journey from CIA to investor and how he recognized the untapped potential in European defense tech while others were dismissive. They also chat about how he's working to overcome the cultural taboo that once made defense investments 'bad manners' in European VC circles. StrictlyVC Download posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop.
