Phoenician Funds

Managing partner and founder Jad Salame leads the firm. He is supported by co-founders Mohamad Ibrahim and George Haimari, along with venture partner Saeb Nahas. The team operates a flat structure with Salame as the ultimate decision-maker on both venture commitments and advisory mandates.

Phoenician deploys venture capital through Phoenician Fund I. The firm and its principals also invest via a parent holding company, More Capital. Advisory mandates are executed through a separate service line, so deal capital does not always originate from the fund.

The firm’s transaction-advisory business doubles as a sourcing pipeline, giving the team early visibility into companies seeking capital or restructuring. It also draws on the personal networks of its founders across the Levant and Gulf, particularly in fintech and enterprise-software ecosystems.

The firm makes direct venture investments and provides fee-based advisory services, but it has not publicly disclosed participation in third-party fund commitments. Its disclosed activity is concentrated in direct equity stakes and transaction-advisory mandates.

Phoenician invests from seed through growth stage, with an emphasis on the complex situations and early-stage brackets. Its portfolio spans companies that were fresh out of formation as well as later-stage rounds, often in markets where conventional venture capital is thin.

The firm has not published an explicit exclusion list. Its disclosed portfolio is concentrated in fintech, enterprise software, mobility, digital health, and e-commerce, suggesting a preference for asset-light, digitally enabled business models over heavy industrial or extractive sectors.

Advisory engagements are run as paid mandates — transaction structuring, due diligence, and deal negotiation — generating fee income for the firm. Venture investments, by contrast, are equity positions taken from Phoenician Fund I or More Capital. The same senior team works across both lines, a model that creates overlapping deal flow but requires internal conflict management.