Maza Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Maza Ventures is a Jordan-based seed fund founded by Tambi Jalouqa in April 2025 to back highly technical founding teams building globally relevant software and deeptech products, with a specific focus on founders from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The firm's stated mission is to invest in "technical teams solving global problems," prioritizing founders who "make humans more capable, not just richer" and who are focused on real product-building over industry hype. Jalouqa has explicitly said the fund is "not afraid to back moonshots," positioning Maza as a firm willing to underwrite ambitious, technically difficult bets rather than incremental, easily-copied businesses.
Sector Focus
Maza's public thesis names six areas of focus: Artificial Intelligence, Agentic SaaS, Enterprise Software, Advanced Computing, BioTech, and Robotics. The realized portfolio skews toward B2B SaaS and AI tooling, with a meaningful concentration in cybersecurity (three of twenty-two disclosed portfolio companies), plus standalone bets in biotech and robotics/hardware. This mix is consistent with a generalist technical-founder thesis rather than a single-vertical fund.
Stage Focus
Maza positions itself as a founder's "first check," i.e., pre-seed and seed stage. The firm has not yet closed its debut institutional fund; as of its April 2025 launch, Jalouqa was writing smaller angel checks (eleven made to date at launch) and planned to move to larger, fund-backed checks after a first close.
Check Size
Third-party aggregator data (PreSeedVCList) puts typical check sizes at roughly $200K-$500K, consistent with a pre-seed/seed angel-to-fund transition, against a reported first-fund target of $30M. These figures are not confirmed directly by Maza and should be treated as directionally accurate rather than precise.
Lead Tendency
Evidence is mixed. Maza's one well-documented 2025 deal, UK agtech company Messium's seed round, was a syndicated round with Maza as one of eight named investors (alongside UKI2S/Future Planet Capital, Expansion, Mudcake, Laconia, GRDC GrainInnovate, Clear Current Capital, Moonstone Venture Capital, and SuperSeed) — a follow/participate role, not a lead. Given the firm is still angel-stage pre-first-close, lead tendency is best treated as unknown/developing rather than settled.
Recent Activity
- April 2025: Public launch of Maza Ventures, announced via MENAbytes and Arab Founders, with Jalouqa stepping down as CEO of Amman-based pre-seed VC Propeller to start the new fund.
- September 2025: Participated in Messium's £3.3M / €3.8M seed round (satellite-powered fertilizer management for precision agriculture), alongside UKI2S, Expansion, and others.
- Fund status: still building toward a first institutional close as of the most recent public reporting found; continuing to deploy via angel-style checks in the interim.
Portfolio Highlights
Maza's public portfolio page lists 23 companies spanning SaaS, cybersecurity, AI, robotics, and biotech: Pelica, Strix (cybersecurity), Stealthium (cybersecurity), Databuddy, Guepard, Messium (agtech/AI), Lookfor (AI/SaaS), Raspire (cybersecurity), Oorb (robotics), Simulator86, RightNow, Sinai, BioCorteX (biotech), Upsonic (AI), Tuner (infrastructure), Taffi, Perceptr, Mare-Custos (robotics), Luun, Pipeit, Keak, Diverz, and Raid AI. No exits or write-ups of unicorn outcomes were found; Jalouqa has publicly discussed the firm's first portfolio write-off (company unnamed) as an expected part of pre-seed risk-taking.
Team
- Tambi Jalouqa, Founder & General Partner — Software engineer by training. Previously CEO of Propeller (an Amman-based pre-seed VC) for six years after eight-plus years at the firm, where he helped raise two funds and backed companies including Maqsam (Jordan), Gameball (Egypt), Oto (Saudi Arabia), and Lawhive (UK). Co-founded Xpand, a product/software event in Jordan. Was founding CTO of POSRocket, a Jordanian point-of-sale startup later acquired by Foodics. Has been personally angel-investing since 2019 across 30+ companies.
No other named team members were found; Maza currently operates as a solo-GP shop, consistent with its "small team, big network" team-page framing.
Decision Process
Solo GP. Jalouqa is the sole named partner and decision-maker; there is no partnership or investment committee structure disclosed.
Founder Preferences
Maza explicitly seeks highly technical founding teams — engineers and builders rather than purely commercial operators — building products with global (not just regional) ambition. The firm favors founders "who make humans more capable, not just richer," and says it wants builders who "want to change the world, not just the region."
Geographic Focus
MENA-originated founders (particularly Jordan and the broader Levant/Gulf) building products aimed at global markets, not just regional ones. The firm is headquartered in Amman, Jordan. Its one disclosed 2025 deal (Messium) is a UK company, suggesting the MENA-founder focus is about founder origin more than company domicile.
Access / Contact Approach
Unlike most MENA VCs, Maza says it is building "in public" — sharing real-time updates on fundraising progress and learnings through open channels rather than operating behind closed doors. The firm has no formal application process; its team page invites founders to "just find a way to talk to us, we have many channels open" via Twitter/X, LinkedIn, or GitHub.