DPI Venture Capital Research
Investment Thesis
DPI Venture Capital is the venture platform of Development Partners International (DPI), a London-based, Africa-focused multi-strategy investment firm founded in 2007 with roughly US$4.0 billion in assets under management across its platform. DPI launched the venture platform in April 2025 and, in the same transaction, became investment adviser to the Nclude Fund, an Egypt-focused fintech venture fund established in 2022. The pitch is to back entrepreneurs from seed to sale, pairing venture capital specialists with the wider DPI firm's networks, value-creation team and impact and ESG team. The thesis centres on financial inclusion across Africa and the Middle East, with Egypt as the core market and launchpad. Since taking over the fund, the team says it has widened the mandate into affordable insurance, healthcare access, SME credit, and helping individuals save and invest, and into companies at the intersection of fintech, AI and emerging technology.
Stage Focus
The Nclude Fund invests from seed through Series C. The portfolio skews to seed through growth rounds in practice: Connect Money raised a seed, Khazna a pre-Series B, FlapKap a pre-Series A, Nawy a Series A and Paymob a pre-Series C round.
Check Size
Per the October 2026 press release, investments range from $500,000 to $10 million. Fund size at final close is over $112 million (the strategy page separately cites $105 million of assets under management and 12 portfolio companies; the later press release cites 15 companies invested).
Lead Tendency
Not stated on the site. The firm describes itself as hands-on and active in portfolio support, but no source reviewed says whether it leads or follows rounds, so lead tendency is recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
- 27 October 2026: final close of the Nclude Fund at over $112 million, with a broadened LP base.
- April 2025: DPI launched DPI Venture Capital and became adviser to Nclude after a restructuring.
- 2025 portfolio rounds: Nawy $52M Series A (May), Money Fellows $13M (May), Sylndr $15.7M (May), Khazna $16M pre-Series B (March), Connect Money $8M seed, FlapKap $34M pre-Series A.
- The fund looks to be actively deploying after the final close.
Portfolio Highlights
The venture strategy page lists twelve companies: Oliv (SME invoice financing, Egypt), Sylndr (used-car marketplace and financing), Nawy (proptech, described as Africa's largest), Money Fellows (digital rotating savings and credit), Mozare3 (agri-fintech serving farmers), Grinta (pharmacy supply chain and inventory financing), Partment (fractional second-home ownership), Lucky (digital rewards and credit app), Connect Money (embedded finance and white-label cards), FlapKap (revenue-based financing for online stores), Khazna (consumer and micro-business super-app) and Paymob (omnichannel payments across MEA). The October 2026 press release also names Kera (health access AI in Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire) and Accord Partners (AI roll-up in accounting and auditing, focused on Saudi Arabia and MENA). The wider DPI private equity portfolio (Moniepoint, Alameda Healthcare, Optasia and others) belongs to separate growth equity funds and is not part of this platform.
Team
- Ashley Lewis, Managing Partner and Head of DPI Venture Capital. Formerly Partner at Accion Venture Lab focused on African fintech; earlier roles at Goldman Sachs, Vanguard and LGT Venture Philanthropy.
- Mohamed Aladdin, General Partner. Formerly Principal at Global Ventures covering the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan.
- Charlie Watson, Chief Operating Officer. First hire into DPI's strategy team; previously Bridgepoint and JP Morgan Asset Management.
- Omar El Kholy, Senior Associate. Part of Nclude's founding team since 2021.
- Salma Farouk Osman, Senior Investment Associate. Formerly on the Nclude investment team.
- Saif Ghazi, Senior Investment Analyst. Formerly Beltone Financial and Amazon.
- Mohamed Taymour, Investment Associate. Formerly McKinsey and Activant Capital.
Decision Process
The site does not describe the investment committee. The firm is a partnership, with DPI's CEO and wider partner group involved at the platform level. Treat the process as unknown until a founder or LP source confirms it.
Founder Preferences
Founders building technology-enabled businesses in Egypt, or companies from the Middle East and North Africa expanding into Egypt, with a preference for financial inclusion and a path to regional scale. The firm says 30% of the fund's mandate can be invested outside Egypt, in the wider Africa region and the Middle East, for companies that can expand between markets.
Geographic Focus
Egypt first, then wider Africa and the Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire all appear in the portfolio). The platform page lists an eight-country footprint.
Gaps
No disclosed lead tendency, ownership targets, decision timeline or warm-intro policy. Team emails and LinkedIn profiles were not published on the site. Stage-at-investment for individual companies is not stated by the firm, so none is recorded.