BECO Capital Unveils $370M Funds to Fuel UAE and Saudi Startups

BECO Capital has just pulled off quite the milestone, closing $370 million across two new funds that stretch its reach from the very first cheque at pre-seed all the way to pre-IPO stages. Based in Dubai and with its eyes firmly on the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the firm now manages more than $820 million in assets. That’s no small feat, and in a region where growth financing has often been a bit of a faff to come by, it could prove spot on for ambitious founders hungry to scale.

The fresh capital is split between two vehicles: $120 million into BECO Fund IV, targeting the early stage, and a chunky $250 million Growth Fund aimed at later rounds. Fund IV will look at sectors from construction tech to fintech, proptech, consumer retail innovations and AI-driven applications. Managing Partners Dany Farha, Abdulaziz Shikh Al Sagha, and Yousef Hammad are steering that ship. As Farha put it, this reflects “continued conviction in the early-stage opportunity in the UAE and Saudi” and confidence in the pool of founder talent the Gulf is producing.

On the flip side, the Growth Fund, led by General Partner Amer Alaily, is designed to plug a glaring capital gap – supporting Series B to pre-IPO companies with ticket sizes averaging $20 million. “Companies in the Gulf are achieving institutional scale, yet face limited access to dedicated growth capital,” Alaily explained. This fund, he argued, allows them to stay the course until exit – whether that’s a big buyout or heading to public markets.

From what I’ve seen over the years covering startups for Arageek, one recurring frustration for founders is that early backing is getting easier to secure, but larger cheques to scale a proven business model are like gold dust. I reckon this particular move by BECO will be welcomed by many entrepreneurs who might otherwise have looked abroad for those heavy rounds. That said, access is one thing; discipline in deploying such sums responsibly is another – and Gulf founders will still need to prove they can weather competitive storms.

BECO has already recorded nine exits, with two unicorns under its belt. Not bad. But what makes this development even more interesting is the “full-stack” approach: helping startups not just at the idea stage but walking beside them until they potentially ring the IPO bell. It reminds me of a chat I once had with a scrappy founder in Riyadh – he said finding that continuity of support would save him endless bridge rounds and sleepless nights. Believe it or not, it matters more than most realise.

Of course, raising two sizeable funds is just the beginning. How BECO deploys this capital and the calibre of entrepreneurs they bet on will determine if the Gulf’s venture ecosystem can finally shift from patchy to genuinely mature. For now though, I’d say founders have every reason to feel chuffed to bits that someone’s putting their money where their mouth is. And while I’m not a fan of overhyping announcements, this feels like more than just noise – it’s a sinal that the region’s venture scene is slowly but surely stepping up.

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