Seeders Angel Group

Overview

Seeders Angel Group is a community of qualified business angels with a mandate to serve the Lebanese entrepreneurial landscape by injecting smart money into early-stage high-risk ventures. The group offers novice investors MasterClasses in Business Angels (MBA) in partnership with GoBeyond, aiming to graduate batches of qualified business angels. Additionally, Seeders gathers seasoned angel investors who possess a history of investing in early-stage ventures. The objective is to make investment decisions and offer companies coaching and mentorship, networking opportunities, and access to follow-on funding and/or matching capital from IM Capital. By institutionalizing sparse angel investing initiatives and graduating qualified business angels, Seeders contributes to early-stage financing and economic growth in Lebanon. Seeders focuses on sectors such as technology, healthcare, consumer goods, education, energy, agriculture, financial services, media, telecommunications, transportation, logistics, real estate, hospitality, retail, and manufacturing. The group invests in companies at various stages, including pre-seed, seed, early stage, and growth, with an average equity stake of 10% and an average capital investment of $80,000. Investment types include lead and co-investment. Seeders operates under the management of IM Capital, a program funded under the USAID MENA Investment Initiative, with a mandate to support and facilitate early-stage investments in Lebanon. The program was launched in 2016 to attract and educate individuals to invest in Lebanese startups by making the best investment through a one-year program developed using a structured approach and a 'learn and earn' methodology in collaboration with GoBeyond, an international network of professional angels. The program aims to build a community of angel investors and sustain its activities, contributing to the growth and development of the Lebanese entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Investment Focus

• Startups must be based and incorporated in Lebanon.
• Target stages include pre-seed, seed, early-stage, and growth.
• Early-stage businesses must have a strong and sustainable competitive advantage and can compete not only locally but regionally and even on a global basis.
• A strong management team is needed for any early-stage business to sustain. The management team should have skilled, realistic, honest, and seasoned individuals who have the capability to turn plans into reality.
• Each early-stage business should exhibit a high potential for creating quality and sustainable employment opportunities.
• With the purpose of supporting Lebanon’s economy, IM Capital will invest in early-stage businesses that do or have the potential to export their products or services regionally and/or globally.

Portfolio Companies