# Sawari Ventures

Sawari Ventures is a Venture Capital based in Giza, Egypt.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Venture Capital
- **Headquarters:** Giza, Egypt
- **Region:** Middle East
- **Address:** 1 Dr. Mohamed Sobhy, 4th Floor, Apartment 9, Giza, Egypt
- **Founded:** 2010
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** sawariventures.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/sawari-ventures

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Sawari Ventures formed in 2010 when Chairman Ahmed El Alfi — a former Jefferies senior vice president who had run his own private partnership since 1990 — and Managing Partner Hany Al Sonbaty merged their investment networks. Al Sonbaty previously built Ideavelopers as the dedicated venture arm of EFG-Hermes Private Equity, which gave him direct experience structuring institutional venture funds inside a dominant regional asset manager. The firm's inaugural vehicles, North Africa Fund I and Egypt Fund I, brought together capital from development finance institutions and regional stakeholders. The firm writes equity checks across seed, early-stage, and growth rounds, targeting companies that build intellectual property in Arab-speaking markets. Technology focuses span AI and machine learning, biotech, and semiconductors. Portfolio holdings confirm the breadth: Si-Ware Systems produces single-chip FT-NIR spectrometers for on-site material analysis; Pearl Semiconductor designs high-performance reference clocks using a patented all-digital PLL architecture; and Docspert Health connects patients in emerging markets to medical specialists at institutions in Germany, the UK, and the US. On the consumer side, MoneyFellows digitizes traditional rotating savings circles for Egypt's largely unbanked population, while Swvl — the mass-transit platform that listed on Nasdaq in March 2022 — operates in 135 cities across 20 countries. The firm exited mobile bug-tracking company Instabug, which later signed commercial relationships with Verizon and Airbnb, and saw Fatura, its fintech-enabled B2B marketplace, acquired by Tanmeyah in 2022. Sawari runs a lean partnership bench from its Giza office. Al Sonbaty, Wael Amin — co-founder of ITWorx, the enterprise software company that seeded over 100 Egyptian tech startups — and Ibrahim Ramadan, who structured the firm's first two institutional funds, form the core investment team alongside Principal Farah Abd El-Gawad. ESG & Impact Partner Jennifer Schoeberlein joined in 2019 to integrate ESG risk assessment across the portfolio. The firm's structural link to Flat6Labs, the MENA region's largest accelerator network with vehicles in Cairo and Tunis, gives it visibility into hundreds of pre-seed founders long before Series A conversations begin. September 2023: Flat6Labs Tunis continued deploying capital from its Anava Seed Fund, extending Sawari's pipeline into francophone North Africa. Most North Africa-focused venture firms either import foreign LPs while remaining disconnected from indigenous founder networks, or operate as local syndicates without institutional fund structures. Sawari does both. The firm's Flat6Labs accelerator — co-founded by Al Sonbaty — funnels the region's highest-volume early-stage deal flow into a manager that also negotiates direct growth-stage rounds alongside international co-investors. That architecture turns a single Giza partnership into a full-stack North African venture platform.

## Sectors

- FinTech
- EdTech
- Digital Health
- Mobility & Transportation
- Supply Chain & Logistics
- Enterprise Software
- E-commerce & Enabling Technology
- DeepTech

## People

- Ahmed El Alfi — Founder and Chairman
- Hany Al Sonbaty — Managing Partner
- Wael Amin — Partner
- Ibrahim Ramadan — Partner
- Farah Abd El-Gawad — Principal

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at Sawari Ventures?

Managing Partner Hany Al Sonbaty leads the investment team alongside Wael Amin and Ibrahim Ramadan. Al Sonbaty built the region's first institutional venture arm at EFG-Hermes before co-founding Sawari, while Amin scaled ITWorx into one of Egypt's largest IT companies and understands technical risk at a founder level. Chairman Ahmed El Alfi sets firm strategy but the day-to-day investment committee draws on Al Sonbaty, Amin, and Ramadan.

### What is Sawari Ventures' relationship with Flat6Labs?

Managing Partner Hany Al Sonbaty co-founded Flat6Labs, and Sawari Ventures is an investor in Flat6Labs Cairo and Flat6Labs Tunis. The accelerator runs the MENA region's largest seed-stage program and gives Sawari a structural advantage in sourcing. The two entities remain legally distinct — Flat6Labs raises its own vehicles — but the shared leadership means portfolio companies graduating from Flat6Labs programs often sit directly in Sawari's growth-stage pipeline.

## Related profiles

- [Savyon Ventures](https://altss.com/profile/savyon-ventures)
- [Sawmill Angels](https://altss.com/profile/sawmill-angels)

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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