Fintech Gate: Mustafa Eid
In an exclusive interview with Capria Ventures, one of the leading venture capital firms focused on emerging markets, Mobola Da-Silva, Partner at the firm, shared deep insights into Capria’s strategic vision for Egypt and Africa, and how artificial intelligence is reshaping the future of entrepreneurship across the continent.
Da-Silva emphasized that Egypt stands as a key pillar in Capria’s regional growth plans, thanks to its strategic location, strong talent pool, and vibrant fintech and technology ecosystem. She explained that Capria is particularly focused on supporting startups leveraging AI-driven solutions in sectors such as fintech, agtech, edtech, and healthtech—areas she described as essential to Africa’s sustainable digital transformation.
Throughout the conversation, Da-Silva discussed the funding challenges faced by African entrepreneurs, Capria’s approach to bridging international capital gaps, and the firm’s broader ambition to position Africa as a global hub for applied AI innovation within the Global South.
Could you introduce Capria Ventures to our readers — its mission, investment philosophy, and overall positioning in the global and African venture capital landscape?
Capria Ventures is a Global South specialist venture capital firm investing in applied AI and connecting founders across a collaborative global network. The firm operates across tech hubs from São Paulo to Lagos, Bangalore, and Jakarta, managing over $195M in assets.
Our investment philosophy centers on early-stage, tech-enabled startups with exceptional founders, strong market traction, and a clear path to profitability. Capria prioritizes applied and agentic AI as the defining driver of productivity and inclusion in emerging markets.
In Africa, Capria’s role is that of a hands-on investment partner, combining capital with deep operational and technical support through our AI Innovation Team, which helps founders ideate, prototype, and deploy AI solutions in production environments.
Positioned among Africa’s top VCs — ranked #4 in the Top 10 Venture Capital Firms in Africa 2025 by The African Exponent — Capria is recognized for fueling the next wave of high-growth startups across the continent.
Why did you choose Egypt as one of your expansion destinations? What makes the Egyptian market attractive compared to other African markets?
Egypt combines strong technical talent, a dynamic fintech and e-commerce ecosystem, and strategic connectivity between Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
The country’s digital-first youth population and growing AI adoption make it a fertile ground for scalable solutions. Our portfolio company Paymob, a fintech infrastructure pioneer, exemplifies how Egyptian founders are building the digital backbone of entire economies. Egypt’s business environment has also evolved significantly, offering clearer regulatory frameworks for fintech and data-driven businesses compared with many peers in the region.
How do you balance your expansion in Egypt with growth in other African countries? Do you have specific markets that rank higher on your strategic roadmap?
Our expansion in Egypt sits alongside our broader focus on key African markets such as Kenya and Nigeria. As a Global South investor, we have built a strong network of partners across these markets, allowing us to support companies with hiring, business development, and fundraising wherever they scale. We do not rank one market above another; instead, we follow founders with strong execution, scalable models, and clear regional potential.
What are the priority sectors you are betting on in Egypt and Africa over the next five years, and why those in particular?
We are most active in Fintech, Agtech, Healthtech, Jobtech, Edtech, and B2B SaaS. These sectors address essential needs, finance, food, jobs, healthcare, and learning; where digital adoption and AI can unlock meaningful gains in productivity, scale, and inclusion. We expect these categories to dominate value creation across Africa over the next five years, and our investment strategy is aligned with that outlook.
What key criteria do you use to evaluate the startups and businesses you invest in — size, technology, social or environmental impact, growth potential?
We invest in early-stage tech companies in the Global South, with a focus on founders applying AI to build scalable, asset-light businesses serving the growing middle class. We view applied and agentic AI as game-changers, especially in resource-constrained environments. Our evaluation centers on strong founding teams, clear unit economics, and a credible path to profitability. We primarily back companies disrupting large existing markets across Fintech, Agtech, Jobtech, Edtech, Healthtech, and B2B SaaS, typically at Series A/A+ with checks of $500K–$1M.
In a competitive African investment landscape, what differentiates Capria as an investment partner in Egypt and across the continent?
Two things set Capria apart: Applied AI Expertise: Our AI Innovation Team works directly with founders to ideate, prototype, and deploy AI solutions—something few VCs offer hands-on ans Global South Network: Founders in Africa gain access to peers and investors from India, LatAm, and SEA, creating cross-learning and expansion pathways beyond the continent. This combination of capital, capability and connectivity allows our companies to scale faster and smarter.
From your perspective, what are the biggest challenges entrepreneurs in Egypt and Africa face when attracting international funding, and how do you help your portfolio companies overcome them?
African founders often face three recurring hurdles when raising international capital: perceived market risk, regulatory fragmentation across countries, and limited visibility to global investors. These challenges persist even though fundamentals are improving and digital adoption is accelerating. The funding gap is driven more by unfamiliarity than lack of opportunity.
We help close this gap by institutionalizing trust early. We support founders on governance, reporting discipline, investor communications, and positioning their story for international audiences. In parallel, we syndicate rounds through our global co-investor network across India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America; bringing in investors who already understand emerging markets. This combination of operational discipline and cross-regional connectivity helps founders earn investor confidence and raise capital on better terms.
Do you plan to partner with local stakeholders in Egypt — such as government entities, universities, or incubators — to support the growth of the companies you back? If so, how will these partnerships work?
Yes. We work with a strong network of local stakeholders in Egypt including sector experts, corporates, and local investors. These are not formal partnerships, but long-standing relationships built through our investing experience in Egypt, via our investments in Global Ventures and Paymob. These relationships help our portfolio companies with hiring, business development, and fundraising whenever a need arises.
Beyond capital, how does Capria support its portfolio companies — through expertise, networks, or market access — especially in the Egyptian and African business environment?
Beyond capital, we provide hands-on support across fundraising, hiring, business development, and cross-border expansion. Our founders also benefit from our network of local partners and co-investors across Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and the wider Global South which helps accelerate market access and customer acquisition. In addition to this, companies can tap into a direct and indirect founder network of more than 360 companies in our broader ecosystem, creating peer learning, partnerships, and shared playbooks across markets.
A key differentiator is our in-house AI Innovation Team. The team works directly with portfolio companies to develop AI use cases, build rapid prototypes, and integrate solutions into production. This gives founders a technical edge, helping them ship faster, improve unit economics, and stay ahead of competitors.
Finally, what is your long-term vision for Capria’s presence in Egypt and the continent overall, and what impact do you hope to leave on the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region?
Our long-term vision is to help make Africa a global hub for applied AI innovation within the Global South, with Egypt as one of the region’s anchor markets. We want to see African startups not only winning at home, but exporting technology and talent globally. A decade from now, success will mean founders credit Capria with helping them build AI-enabled, scalable, and financially sustainable businesses. We measure impact not just by returns, but by how much smarter, faster, and more inclusive the continent’s digital economy becomes.
What are some of the most significant investments Capria has made so far, and what impact have they had in their respective markets?
Paymob – building fintech infrastructure that underpins Egypt’s digital economy.
E-commerce enabler – enables merchants in Egypt and KSA to scale their businesses online by offering end-to-end fulfillment, warehousing, and last-mile delivery through a tech-enabled logistics platform.
Moniepoint – a business payments platform advancing financial inclusion through digital banking services.
SeamlessHR – an HRtech company automating end-to-end HR processes for African businesses.
Helium Health – Africa’s largest provider of healthcare technology solutions.
MAX – a mobility-tech company supporting professional drivers with low-emission vehicle subscriptions.
BFREE – an AI-driven debt recovery platform promoting ethical, scalable financial practices.
Could you share some of the key achievements or milestones the fund has reached in recent years, particularly in emerging markets?
Capria has been investing in the Global South since 1999, starting in India. Today, Capria has expanded its investment presence across multiple Global South regions – from Latin America to Africa and Southeast Asia. We now manage $195m AUM accross 6 funds.
The firm has been recognized by The African Exponent (2025) as one of the Top VC Firms in Africa, and by TechCabal and the Financial Times for its role in supporting high-growth startups.
Capria has also been recognized in Time’s list of Top Venture Capital Firms in America 2025.
In recognition of our efforts as impact leaders, Capria has been selected as an Impact Assets 50 fund manager for 9 years in a row.
The establishment of Capria’s AI Innovation Team in 2023 is a major internal milestone, setting us apart from other boutique VCs and enabling us to offer technical assistance to our portfolio companies, that accelerates the integration of AI across our portfolio.
What is the current size of your portfolio in terms of assets under management, and how many companies have you invested in to date?
Capria manages 6 VC funds with a total AUM of $195M and a portfolio of more than 60 companies.
How diverse is your portfolio across geographies and sectors, and which areas do you see gaining more weight going forward?
Geographically, Capria invests across the Global South, with a strong presence in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Within Africa/MENA, our portfolio includes companies with operations in Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and the GCC.
Sectorally, Capria focuses on Fintech, Agtech, Jobtech, Edtech, Healthtech, and B2B SaaS, emphasizing asset-light, tech-enabled business models and founders with strong market fit.
Capria expects AI-enabled companies in these verticals to gain greater portfolio weight in the coming years, given its conviction that every startup must now have an AI strategy.
