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P1 Ventures
P1 Ventures was founded by Managing Partners Mikael Hajjar and Hisham Halbouny. Hajjar, a Berkeley engineer and Stanford MBA, previously launched products at...
P1 Ventures
P1 Ventures was founded by Managing Partners Mikael Hajjar and Hisham Halbouny. Hajjar, a Berkeley engineer and Stanford MBA, previously launched products at startups and Fortune 500 companies across the U.S., South Africa, China, and France. Halbouny, a former investment banker at EFG Hermes, built the global private markets platform at Man Capital, gaining exposure to Uber, Bolt, and Airbnb. The firm is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, and operates with a remote-first team across multiple time zones, reflecting its belief that African entrepreneurial talent is more widely dispersed than venture funding. The firm invests at the pre-seed and seed stages, concentrating on FinTech, Digital Health, InsurTech, AI/ML, and productivity software. Confirmed portfolio companies include Yassir, Chari, Reliance Health, Amenli, and Lami. P1 Ventures provides operational help on go-to-market strategy, key hires, and follow-on fundraising — co-founder Noureddine Tayebi credits Hajjar with sourcing a strategy lead from Lyft and introducing him to Senior Advisor Emil Michael. The geographic footprint spans Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya, among other markets, with the firm reporting its startups have disbursed $248 million in consumer loans and provided healthcare to 288,000 patients. The team includes Venture Partners Nada Abdelnour, a former product marketing lead at iZettle and Yoco, Ijeoma Arum, Chief Commercial Officer at Jumia Nigeria, and Kemi Tijani, who previously led global product partnerships at Cohere. Senior Advisors Bernard Dalle, co-founder of Index Ventures, and Emil Michael, former Chief Business Officer at Uber, provide later-stage and global scaling counsel. Ops Director Selva Govinden previously headed operations at Savannah Fund. P1 Ventures is actively recruiting a junior investor for an apprenticeship model, signaling near-term team expansion. P1 Ventures' structural differentiator is its operator-heavy partnership. Managing Partners and Venture Partners are drawn from startups they backed or built, not just from institutional investing seats. That operator DNA — from Jumia to Cohere to Uber — means the firm can credibly advise on hiring, geographic expansion, and product partnerships in a way that pure financial investors cannot. Senior Advisor affiliations with Index Ventures and Uber also provide a bridge to global growth capital that few Africa-focused seed funds can replicate.
General information
Firm type
Venture Capital
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Africa
Country
Nigeria
City
Lagos
Corporate office
Lagos, Nigeria
Principals
Mikael Hajjar
Managing Partner
Hisham Halbouny
Managing Partner
Nada Abdelnour
Venture Partner
Ijeoma Arum
Venture Partner
Selva Govinden
Ops Director
Kemi Tijani
Venture Partner
Bernard Dalle
Senior Advisor
Emil Michael
Senior Advisor
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at P1 Ventures?
Managing Partners Mikael Hajjar and Hisham Halbouny lead the firm. Hajjar is a former operator with product and scaling experience in the U.S., South Africa, and China, while Halbouny previously managed private technology investments at Man Capital. They are supported by a distributed team of Venture Partners and Senior Advisors, including Index Ventures co-founder Bernard Dalle and former Uber CBO Emil Michael.
How does P1 Ventures source proprietary deal flow?
The firm sources through its operators' networks and on-the-ground presence across Africa. Venture Partners and Advisors with active operational roles at companies like Jumia and Cohere provide early visibility into emerging startups. P1 Ventures' public job description for junior investors also emphasizes ecosystem connectivity across Africa and diaspora markets, indicating a deliberate, network-driven sourcing engine.
Is P1 Ventures structured as a single family office or does it operate more like a venture firm?
P1 Ventures operates as a traditional venture capital firm, not a family office. It is organized as an asset manager with a private equity subtype, deploys third-party capital into early-stage startups, and manages a portfolio of 29 companies as of the latest disclosed data.
Does P1 Ventures participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
P1 Ventures invests directly in startups at the pre-seed and seed stages. There is no public evidence that it makes fund commitments to other managers. Its model is built on direct, hands-on partnerships with founding teams from inception through product-market fit.
What investment stages does P1 Ventures typically target?
The firm exclusively targets pre-seed and seed rounds. It aims to be the first institutional investor and often reinvests in follow-on rounds, as evidenced by its participation in Yassir's Series B. The strategy is to partner closely with founders during the earliest phases of company building.
How is P1 Ventures related to Index Ventures or Uber?
There is no corporate ownership link. Senior Advisors Bernard Dalle, co-founder of Index Ventures, and Emil Michael, former Chief Business Officer of Uber, serve in advisory capacities. Their relationships provide portfolio companies with access to global scaling expertise and follow-on capital networks, but the firms are legally and operationally separate.
Does P1 Ventures maintain philanthropic structures, and how are they separated?
There is no evidence of a separate philanthropic vehicle. P1 Ventures remains a for-profit seed-stage fund. The firm does publicly report impact metrics — such as lives impacted and SMEs tooled with software — but these track the commercial portfolio's real-economy footprint rather than indicating a philanthropic arm.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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