Silicon Badia Research
Overview
Silicon Badia is a global venture capital firm founded in 2012 by brothers Fawaz and Namek Zu'bi. Its tagline is "Global matters." The firm says it partners with passionate, bold entrepreneurs to solve some of the world's biggest problems, and that it has invested in over 100 startups across more than 15 technology industries. Third-party profiles place its roots in Amman, Jordan, with a partner presence in the United States (Namek Zu'bi is listed in Miami Beach) and a MENA team.
Investment Thesis
The firm is a generalist. Its site does not publish a narrow thesis; the thesis is visible in the portfolio, which spans enterprise and B2B software, developer tools and infrastructure, finance, education, consumer, agriculture, health and insurance, life sciences, and mobility and logistics. The portfolio page filters by two geographies, Middle East and North Africa, and North America, which matches a model of backing US software companies and MENA market leaders side by side.
Stage Focus
Third-party profiles describe Silicon Badia as an early-stage investor. Recent announcements show seed and pre-Series A leads (Thunder Code's $9M seed in June 2025, MidLyr's $2.5M and Engagesoft's $3.5M pre-Series A in October 2025) and a lead of Cartona's $12M Series A in July 2022. The firm also follows on in later rounds of portfolio companies such as Gatik (Series D, August 2026). Check size is not published; it is left unset.
Lead Tendency
The firm both leads and follows. It leads many early rounds (Cartona, Thunder Code, MidLyr, Engagesoft), co-led Expensya's $20M financing in April 2021, and takes part in later rounds led by others (Gatik's Series D was led by QIA and KDT).
Recent Activity
- November 2026: Journify raised a $12M Series A.
- October 2026: Prism Data raised $20M.
- August 2026: Gatik raised $200M in a Series D.
- March 2026: Scalvy raised a $13.9M Series A; CometChat raised $6.5M from Run Ventures; Abra announced it would go public.
- October 2025: Led MidLyr's $2.5M and Engagesoft's $3.5M rounds; Morgan Stanley agreed to buy EquityZen.
- June 2025: Led Thunder Code's $9M seed.
- Fund status: the firm announced a $50M MENA-based fund in June 2021 (the second MENA fund, BIF II) and continues to announce new investments in 2025 and 2026, so it appears to be actively deploying.
Portfolio Highlights
- Amplitude (NASDAQ: AMPL), direct listing in 2021
- Swvl (NASDAQ: SWVL), listed in 2021
- Procore (NYSE: PCOR), via Honest Buildings
- Electric, reaching unicorn status in 2022
- Newsela, Petal, Novo, Gatik, Bennie, Vezeeta, Bosta, Cartona
- Acquired or exited: Allay, BacklotCars, Authenticiti, BenRevo, Brace, CStorePro, ClassTag, Compology, Kambr, Rocean, EquityZen
Team
- Fawaz H. Zu'bi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner
- Namek T. Zu'bi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner
- Erass Majdoubeh, Partner
- Hossam Shafick, Partner
- Zaid Ayoub, Venture Partner and IC member
- Mohammed Nasif, Venture Partner
- Hamed Masri, Venture Partner
- Maryam Abu Ragheb, Legal and Compliance Director
- Mamoun N. Muheisen, Chief of Staff
Decision Process
Not published. The site names Zaid Ayoub as an investment committee member, which suggests a partnership model with an investment committee. Warm introductions are likely helpful but this is not stated.
Founder Preferences
The firm describes "passionate, bold entrepreneurs" solving large problems and emphasizes its global network and operating support. It backs founders in the US and in MENA markets such as Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf.
Geographic Focus
Global, with two visible clusters: North America and the Middle East and North Africa (Egypt, Jordan, the GCC). Examples include Cartona, Bosta and Synapse Analytics (Egypt) and Vezeeta and Bayzat in the region, alongside US companies such as Amplitude, Electric and Ceres Imaging.
Data Gaps and Portfolio Read Note
The captioned portfolio read returned usable captions for the first 22 logos only. Captions 22 to 72 all came back as the same repeated "Engagesoft" caption on a shared placeholder image, so they were treated as illegible. The remaining portfolio names were taken from the portfolio page's own links (Vezeeta, Worklete, Newsela, Honest Buildings, Swvl, Amplitude) and from the firm's own updates page and homepage news. Domains were left null rather than guessed. AUM and check size are not published and are left unset.