Global Investors Extend Line of Liquidity to High-Growth Palestinian Startups
Press Release
Ramallah, August, 2024 — Intersect, a Ramallah-based tech hub and incubator, is pleased to announce the first close of a $5 million USD bridge financing facility that will extend the runway of Palestinian tech startups impacted by the ongoing war.
This funding initiative, known as SAFE Palestine, will immediately provide urgently needed liquidity to 29 high-growth Palestinian startups, preserving over 300 existing jobs and creating new employment opportunities within the tech sector. The facility, which will provide equity and grants, is a response to challenges faced by startups, including the displacement, injury, or loss of employees in Gaza, supply chain and banking disruptions in the West Bank, and an already challenging macroeconomic fundraising environment for founders.
Earlier this year, Google was one of the first global tech companies to announce a multi-million dollar commitment to fund Palestinian entrepreneurs to weather the crisis that began in October 2023. The financing initiative has now attracted private capital from Silicon Valley to Dubai. Investors, through a special purpose vehicle, will inject equity into each startup alongside the Google grants, which will be disbursed by Intersect.
"Our support of this initiative is part of our commitment to accelerating Palestine’s digital economy," said Rateb H. Rabi, Chief Executive Officer of Intersect. "Through SAFE Palestine, we aim to preserve and enhance the capabilities of our local startups, ensuring they have the same opportunities to grow as founders anywhere else in the world. Equality of opportunity is so important, especially now."
SAFE Palestine will provide bridge funding to startups using "simple agreements for future equity" (SAFEs), the funding instrument pioneered by leading startup accelerator Y Combinator. SAFEs are widely understood by global investors, founder-friendly, and inexpensive to execute, making them an ideal choice for quickly deploying capital in this context.
The initiative used objective criteria to determine funding eligibility, including a startup team’s presence in Palestine, recurring revenue, previous venture backing, as well as reference checks, ensuring a fair and swift deployment of funds. Although gender was not a screening criterion, 40% of the startups receiving investment have at least one female founder, a testament to the inclusivity of Palestine’s startup ecosystem.
This blended finance vehicle is part of RISE Palestine, an umbrella impact initiative implemented by Intersect and launched by the Bank of Palestine to provide emergency support to tech founders and digital economy workers.
The SAFE Palestine initiative has received commitments from a diverse group of global investors, including Google, Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit, a unicorn startup reinventing how developers write code; Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator; Fadi Ghandour, founder of Aramex and Wamda; and Samih Toukan, co-founder of Maktoob and Souq.com, which were sold to Yahoo and Amazon, respectively.
About Intersect:
Intersect is a non-profit tech and startup ecosystem enabler operating in three Palestinian cities. Its mission is to increase the growth, resilience, and innovation of Palestine’s digital economy. Intersect is proudly powered by the Bank of Palestine Group and is at the forefront of the bank’s social impact and innovation efforts.
To join Intersect’s RISE Palestine initiative and support Palestine’s tech community, you can learn more and contribute online through this link: https://risepalestine.intersecthub.org/contribute/.
For more information about the SAFE Palestine investment initiative, email [email protected].
Contact:
Intersect
[email protected]
+972 56-688-5522
