Tarek started his career as an engineer at Lucent Technologies then as a software developer for SAQQARA Systems, an internet startup in Silicon Valley. He later became General Manager of CID consulting where he headed the company’s turnaround to become one of the leading local consulting firms in Egypt.

Apart from his role at Algebra Ventures, Tarek is Managing Partner at Ideavelopers where he has been managing $47m of VC investments since 2009, including some of Egypt’s most prominent technology startups. Tarek is a director of Smart Card Applications, Siware, IdealRatings and Nefsak.com. In this role, he was also responsible for the investment in Fawry, the leading bill payment and presentment company in Egypt, which realized a $100m exit in 2015.

Tarek holds a B.Sc. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Ain Shams University in Cairo and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Karim Hussein is a technology veteran with deep experience in product and innovation
management and rapid business growth and scaling – particularly in health-tech and fintech.
His experience spans consumer Internet as well as enterprise software. He’s also an
active investor and mentor to a number of technology businesses in Egypt and the US.
Prior to moving to Egypt, Karim was Senior Vice President of Products and Engineering
at WebMD. from 2004 till 2011. Karim had responsibility for directing product
management, technology strategy and architecture across WebMD’s consumer
and professional divisions. At WebMD, Karim helped build the company from $80MM
in revenue to over $500 MM, developed the user base to over 100 million users with over
2 Billion pageviews per month, built out a claims infrastructure that supports over 60% of
all US Healthcare claims processing, and established the largest physician network in the
US supporting over 80% of all US physicians. Prior to WebMD, Karim was a
cofounder and CTO of Riskclick, a financial technology firm specializing in commercial
insurance applications. Karim helped build the firm to over 60 employees and over $5
Million in annuity revenue. In a short span of three years, Riskclick became the leading
platform for large commercial insurance transactions and became the sole provider for
the Dutch insurance market. Riskclick. was subsequently acquired by Skywire and
subsequently by Oracle Corporation and merged into their insurance services suite. Prior
to founding Riskclick, Karim worked for Booz Allen & Hamilton where he was a
member of the Global e-Commerce team. He played a central role in developing the
firm’s expertise in e-commerce, particularly in finance and media markets. He also
participated in the development of the UK government’s e-commerce strategy.
Since Karim came back to Egypt in 2011, he has been working on transferring his
experience to rising Egyptian startups. He co-founded the first angel investor network in
Egypt – Cairo Angels. He is an investor and board member to several startups including
D-Kimia, Integreight, Shezlong.com, and Simplex. He is Chairman of the
entrepreneurship committee of the Egyptian National Competitiveness Council, a mentor
to high impact entrepreneurs through the Endeavor network, and a fellow of the Aspen
Global Leadership Network. He serves on the investment committee of Leap Ventures –
an $80 million venture capital fund based in Lebanon. Finally, he is the Chairman and
interim CEO of D-Kimia Diagnostic Solutions developing fast, affordable, and accurate
medical diagnostics using nano-technology and focused on controlling the Hepatitis C
epidemic in Egypt and globally.
Dr. Hussein graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with Bachelor’s degrees in
Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. He subsequently received a Doctor
of Science Degree in the field of Information Systems from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, MIT. He is a member of the Sigma Xi scientific honor society and is an
active member of the IEEE and ACM professional communities. Dr. Hussein has
published over 40 research papers in international refereed journals and conferences and
has been awarded a US patent for his work on distributed computing and video
conferencing environments.

Ziad served as a Consultant and Associate at McKinsey Consulting where he worked on several projects related to economic development, healthcare reform, and educational institutions. Prior to McKinsey, he co-founded Espace Technologies in 2000 and served as its Chief Executive Officer. During his tenure at eSpace, he led the development of the number one mobile salesforce solution in the region, and spearheaded the eSpace’s international services business.

Apart from is role at Algebra Ventures Ziad is a Partner at Ideavelopers where he serves as a director of DrBridge, Siware and Iqraaly. Ziad was involved with 13 portfolio companies over the lifetime of the fund.

Ziad holds an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Alexandria University.

Khaled Ismail, a co-founder of Algebra Ventures, is a senior advisor to the fund. Khaled has held numerous management and technology roles. He was the Chairman of Endeavor Egypt between 2011 and 2014, Business Development Officer and board member at Orascom Telecom, one of the largest companies in Egypt, reporting to the chairman and CEO of the group (2004-2011) and board member of the IT Industry Development Authority (2009-2012). Between 2005 and 2007, he was the Senior Advisor of the Egyptian Minister of CIT, responsible for Technology Development. He was also the Managing Director of Gemma, a company specialized in Ceramic manufacturing, which he managed to take public in 1998. Khaled was Founder and CEO of SySDSoft, one of the leading global IP design companies for wireless standards. Khaled exited SysDSoft to Intel Mobile Communications in 2011.

Apart from his role at Algebra Ventures, Khaled is Founder and Chairman of KIAngel, one of the most active angel investment funds focused on investing in early-stage startups in the Middle East.

Khaled was with IBM’s TJ Watson Research Center in NY. He is the recipient of the IBM Invention Achievement Award and the IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award in 1997 and 1995, respectively. He holds a PhD from MIT, an MSc from the University of Lille in France, an MSc from University of Aachen in Germany and a BSc from Cairo University in Electrical Engineering. Khaled is the holder of 22 U.S. patents.

Omar joined Algebra Ventures in February 2017 as an Investment Analyst. He assists in investment analysis, selection, and execution.

Prior to joining the firm, Omar held positions at Gemini Holding, the Naguib Sawiris family office, where he assisted in analyzing potential investments and developing bankable business plans for existing assets. In parallel, he completed his credit analysis certification.
Omar holds a B.Sc. in Business Information Systems from Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany. During his studies, he completed internships in venture development at Rocket Internet in Berlin and in digital transformation at MS&C Management Consultants in Munich.

Farah joined Algebra Ventures in August 2016 as an Associate, where she assists in the research and selection of potential investments.

Prior to joining the firm, Farah held several positions in HC Securities and Investment Asset Management Department, where she was responsible for conducting thorough top down and bottom up analysis on Egyptian Equity market. She also recommended investment ideas to fund managers that result in stronger security selection and portfolio construction

Previously, Farah was a sell-side Analyst at CI-Capital, with a particular focus on Real Estate. She undertook detailed real estate market analysis in order to generate well-communicated research reports.

Farah is a CFA Charterholder and holds a BA in Business Administration and a minor in Economics from the American University in Cairo (AUC).

Khaled Ashraf is an Investment Associate in Algebra Ventures, working with partners on deal flow generation, opportunity assessment, transaction execution, and portfolio support.

Khaled started his career in Vodafone Egypt where he held different roles in marketing, finance and project management. Then, he became the investment analyst for Vodafone Ventures and assisted in the execution of 7 startups investments including Eventtus, Kngine, elcinema.com among others.

Later, he joined HC Investment Banking responsible for creating financial models, valuations, and drafting presentations for clients and investors in different industries. He was part of Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc. acquisition deal on EUP, an Egyptian manufacturer of oncology products for $30m. Afterwards, he joined Pioneers Holding as an Assistant Investment Manager responsible for budget reviews for portfolio companies, debt/equity raising and mergers & acquisitions.

Khaled holds a B.A. in Finance and Economics from the German University in Cairo (GUC) with highest honors.