Amir Farha

COTU Ventures

Amir has over a decade of experience with a wide range of early stage ventures as an entrepreneur, mentor and investor. He started his career in 2003 as a Systems Analyst at Mars in the UK before moving into venture capital in 2005 at CLS Capital Partners, the Corporate VC arm of CLS Holdings Plc based in London. Amir spent 3 years at CLS Capital Partners and was part of their investment team, managing 12 investments in the early stage technology space in London and Sweden, most notably Lunarworks, which was the largest social network in Sweden at the time. He then moved back to Dubai in 2008 to join what was then the first seed capital fund in the MENA region, the Arab Business Angel Network. At ABAN, Amir managed an angel network of 40 investors, and a $15m fund that invested into 6 companies during his time there. After leaving ABAN in 2009, Amir went on to start several service-based companies, including a PR agency (which he successfully exited in 2011), a facility maintenance company, a web development agency and a strategy and financial advisory firm that supports startups and small businesses in the MENA region (which he successfully exited in 2017). In 2012, Amir founded BECO Capital, an early stage VC firm that focuses on investing in technology startups in the Middle East. BECO has 2 funds, Fund 1 is a $50m fund launched in 2014 and Fund 2 is a $100m that was closed in 2018. Some notable investments under management include Careem, Propertyfinder, Fresha, Bayzat and Wahed Invest.

Education, Personal, and Fellowship

Amir attended the University of Bath, where he received a Bachelor of Science (with honors) in Computer Information Systems and a Masters of Science in Management.

As a member of Class 22, Amir served his fellowship at BECO Capital under the mentorship of Mohsen Khalil, founder & CEO of MAKVEST. Amir was a mentor to Yousef Hammad (Class 21).