Karim Hussein on Egypt's Vibrant Venture Landscape

I’m really excited to share today’s episode, which features an interview with Karim Hussein, a Managing Partner of Algebra Ventures, Egypt’s leading institutional-quality venture capital firm. 

I was thrilled to speak with Karim for several reasons. 

First, I find Egypt to be one of the most captivating countries in the world, not only because of its rich history, but also because of its energy and potential. It’s the largest market in the Arab world, with a population of 100 million people — one in five of whom live in Cairo.

Second, Egypt’s startup scene is vibrant — with more than 80 venture investments inked last year — and it’s approaching another inflection point of growth.

Third, Karim’s background in deep tech — and his bona fides as a successful entrepreneur — enable him to provide high-fidelity insights on the depth of the country’s technical talent and the quality of its entrepreneurs. 

Karim does a masterful job covering the landscape of Egypt’s startup and venture ecosystem. He also shares some great book recommendations at the end for those who are keen to learn more.

With that, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Karim Hussein.

This podcast was recorded in January 2022.

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Learn more about Algebra Ventures.

Follow Algebra Ventures on LinkedIn.

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Karim’s Book Recommendations:

·       Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

·       Naguib Mahfouz, The Cairo Trilogy

·       Max Rodenbeck, Cairo: The City Victorious

·       P.J. Vatikiotis, The History of Modern Egypt

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Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here.

(Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as NFTs of Pat Lok’s “Over U” and Aluna’s “Forget About Me”).