Evansville Still has Zero Venture Capital Dollars Available to Entrepreneurs
In a first for an important region of the Middle East, the Middle East Venture Capital Fund announced today it has raised a $28.7 million fund to invest in Palestinian technology companies according to Venturebeat.com.
The fund will be based in Ramallah and it has money from a bunch of international companies, foundations and other investors. The investors include Cisco, Google, the Soros Economic Development Fund, Skoll Foundation, Jean and Steve Case, and the European investment bank.
There is no question that the region badly needs tech startups to create jobs. The question is whether the region has the infrastructure to support tech startups. One disadvantage, beyond political turmoil, is the lack of infrastructure. Cell phone data networks might solve that, but there’s no guarantee that connectivity will be uninterrupted. Another hurdle is the lack of technologically-educated workers.
Intel realized this when it set up a technology education effort back in 2008 in the region. The world’s biggest chip makers has been investing billions of dollars into chip factories in Israel for many years, but not in the Palestinian areas. Still, the area’s talent has likely been overlooked.
The fund will be managed by Saed Nashef, a software entrepreneur and industry veteran who recently returned to the region after nearly two decades in the U.S. Another manager is Yadin Kaufmann, a longtime venture capitalist in the U.S. and Israel.
