Insights & Perspectives
Startup founder raising capital in MENA? Here are the top 10 AI prompts we use to help founders succeed
A year ago, some of our friends, clients and colleagues went to a 2AM rave party at the Pyramids at Giza. The music, the lights, the incredible setting. "Best ever", was the loud message. This week were were back in Cairo, but this time the best ever was a series of...
The Fund Journey: LP Outcome Canvas: EPF Investment in Meridian Ventures Fund III (Part IV)
From Fund I to Fund III Aisha and Rizal navigate nearly a decode on the fund journey. For Fund III, they run into the LP Outcome Canvas at one of Malaysia's leading pension funds. (case based, fictional fund) Read the full story, The Fund Journey: An Emerging...
The Fund Journey: An Emerging Manager’s Story from Kuala Lumpur to SEA. Part III: Value Creation, Fund III, and Institutional Arrival (Years 6-7)
Continued from Part I (years T-2 -1). Read part I here, and Part II here. Through the lens of Aisha Rahman, Founding Partner, Meridian Ventures With insights from: Rizal Tan, Co-Founder & General Partner And: Ahmad Ismail, CFO, PayMalaysia (Portfolio Company) By...
The Fund Journey: An Emerging Manager’s Story from Kuala Lumpur to South-East Asia. Part II: Investment Period and the Birth of Fund II (Years 2-5)
Continued from Part I (years T-2 -1). Read part I here, and Part III here. Through the lens of Aisha Rahman, Founding Partner, Meridian Ventures With insights from: Rizal Tan, Co-Founder & General Partner And: Priya Nair, CEO, DataSync (Portfolio Company) The...
The Fund Journey: An Emerging Manager’s Story from Kuala Lumpur to South-East Asia. Part I (Years T-2 to 1)
From Fund I ($10M) to Fund III ($50M) in Six Years. A Three-Part Series on Building a South-East Asian Venture Capital Firm from Scratch Written by Christian Rangen, advisor to VC funds, Fund-of-funds, faculty, Written through the lens of Aisha Rahman, Founding...
From Student to Master: The 4-Phase Journey to Master Scale Up Facilitation
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Mastery in Scale Up facilitation is not a credential you earn; it is a progression you live. Over 18 to 36 months, you will evolve from content expert to transformer; someone who helps founders and teams see what they could not see alone. This...
Evolving Scale Up!
Over the past seven years we have delivered 300+ sessions with nearly 4.500 people through Scale Up! This month, we are rolling out the latest version, Scale Up MENA! and Scale Up Africa Rising! (launching in Q1 ’26). Here are the first observations from running the...
Scaling up the MENA ecosystem
“Mindblowing - but in a good way” “Absolutely stunning” “Possibly the most unique training I have taken part in. The highs and lows of being a start up founder squeezed into two days. “Every founder should have this!” Just wrapped up an incredible two-day...
The Three Types of Scale-Up Boards: A Founder’s Journey Through Series A in MENA
Written by Chris Rangen, advisor, faculty, investor Written through the lens of Dr. Layla Al-ha-Mansouri, Founder & CEO, HealthSyncz MENA With insights from: Tariq E. Hassan, General Partner, Desert Capital. The people and companies are fictional for the purpose...