UM6P Ventures, a Moroccan venture capital firm, is looking to increase its investments in Israeli technologies to help scale up biotech solutions throughout Africa.
Israel is a leader in many deep-tech sectors, said Yasser Biaz, CEO of UM6P Ventures, which he formed in 2019 as the ventures arm of University Mohamed 6 Polytechnic (UM6P) and OCP Group in Morocco.
He stated that he is actively researching and analyzing a few Israeli firms, for potential investments.
On the sidelines of the OurCrowd Global Investor Summit in Jerusalem, Biaz said, “We are planning to add at least four Israeli startups to our portfolio this year, in addition to the two that are already in our portfolio.”
UM6P is looking to invest in early-stage entrepreneurs in industries including biotechnology and alternative protein related to agriculture and the alternative food market sector, according to Biaz, who made his first visit to Israel at the occasion of the investor summit.
Biaz is a member of a Moroccan digital business delegation that also comprises companies from a range of fields and industries, such as solar energy, drones, the metaverse, AI, fintech, training, education, and human resources technology.
Youssef Seffar, director of business development for OurCrowd Arabia, coordinated the delegation with the Moroccan government.
According to Yasser Biaz, cooperation has begun to bear fruit since Israel and Morocco established full diplomatic ties in 2020 as part of the known Abraham Accords, as reported by The Times of Israel.
So far, two Israeli firms received investments from UM6P last year. The venture fund made an investment in ClimateCrop, a company situated in Ness Ziona, in July.
ClimateCrop utilizes gene editing technology on plants and trees to store more carbon and energy, resulting in higher yields and increased food supply.
“Investment in deep-tech, despite available capital and investment willingness, has been relatively nascent or mute in Africa,” said Biaz.
He further added that UMP6 Ventures goes in and invest in very early-stage tech “where other investors will not go. So, the Israeli startup will benefit from our support and we benefit from their expertise.”
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