DPI Venture Capital closes Nclude Fund at more than $112 million

DPI Venture Capital has held a final close on Nclude Fund at more than $112 million. The money carries the Egypt-established investor into a next phase of investment across Africa and the Middle East, covering new commitments as well as the regional expansion of companies already on its books.

Nclude started in Cairo in 2022 as a fintech-focused venture capital fund. It moved under DPI Venture Capital's investment advisory management in 2025, following a restructuring transaction. DPI Venture Capital, the venture platform of Development Partners International, was launched as a dedicated vehicle alongside that restructuring. The same process was used to widen Nclude's LP base, with additional strategically aligned investors brought in selectively rather than through an open fundraising push.

Cheques from $500,000 to $10 million

Nclude invests between $500,000 and $10 million per company and works from Seed through Series C. That range means it backs businesses at several growth stages instead of a single entry point. Its thesis sits where fintech meets financial inclusion, AI and other emerging technology: the fund describes its targets as fintech, fintech-enabled businesses and financial inclusion, with a second strand aimed at companies operating at the intersection of fintech and artificial intelligence.

Egypt is the core market, treated as a launchpad for businesses with the potential to scale across Africa and the Middle East. Nclude also invests across the wider Africa region and the Middle East, and 30% of its investment mandate is available for deals outside Egypt. The stated aim is to back companies that can expand between markets and build regional scale.

It has invested in 15 companies to date.

The portfolio

• Nawy, an Egyptian proptech company, raised a $52 million Series A and is expanding across MENA.
• Paymob, an Egyptian payments business that operates in the UAE and the wider Gulf, raised $35 million in a pre-Series C round led by Mubadala and the EBRD.
• FlapKap, a UAE-based fintech, raised $34 million in a pre-Series A round, with the funding directed at SME finance and expansion in the GCC.
• Money Fellows raised $13 million, money that supports financial inclusion and expansion across North Africa, Morocco included.
• Kera, a health access AI company, operates in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
• Accord Partners is an AI roll-up venture working in accounting and auditing, with Saudi Arabia and the broader MENA region as its immediate focus.

Read together, those six show how the mandate travels: payments and SME credit in Egypt and the Gulf, a savings business heading west into North Africa, health AI in West Africa, and a roll-up being assembled in Saudi Arabia.

Lewis on sizing and discipline

Ashley Lewis, managing partner of DPI Venture Capital, said the firm took stewardship of an existing fund with a strong investment thesis already rooted in improving financial inclusion across Africa and the Middle East. Nclude has since grown a portfolio aligned with that central thesis, Lewis said, and has activated more of its mandate across the region, extending into affordable insurance, healthcare access, SME credit access and products that help individuals save and invest.

Lewis said the investor base was broadened selectively, with strategically aligned LPs added. At more than $112 million, Nclude is "appropriately sized for today's market" in Lewis's words, and the fund's size gives the manager enough firepower to invest with discipline while supporting founders who are trying to turn local businesses into regional technology leaders.

Cross-border scaling

Mohamed Aladdin, general partner, frames the opportunity in cross-border terms. Technology businesses in the portfolio increasingly look beyond their home markets as they scale, Aladdin said, and growing links between Africa and the Middle East are opening routes to new customers and new markets. Aladdin cited expansion from Egypt into the Gulf, movement across North Africa, and traffic in the other direction, with companies entering Egypt from elsewhere in the region. Nawy, Paymob, Money Fellows and FlapKap, in Aladdin's view, demonstrate the potential to build regional technology leaders out of these markets.

Venture as a core platform

Sofiane Lahmar, chief executive of Development Partners International, said the firm has a long track record of backing high-growth African businesses through different growth stages. Institutionalising venture capital as a core platform combines DPI Venture Capital's specialist expertise with the wider firm's networks, capabilities and investment experience, Lahmar said. That combination, in Lahmar's account, strengthens support for ambitious technology businesses scaling across Africa and the Middle East, strengthens returns for investors, and strengthens financial inclusion across the region.

The fresh capital is earmarked for new investments and for portfolio companies pushing between Egypt, the Gulf and other African markets. The 30% of the mandate held for deals outside Egypt is where that cross-border argument gets tested.