The Bader Young Entrepreneurs Program announced that its investment fund, known as The Building Block Equity Fund (BBEF), invested $1.15M in three Lebanese startups seeking to expand regionally, namely the Shawarmanji fast-food chain, the Shahiya food portal and the online book distribution company Cedar Books. The group revealed that the capital of the fund will be raised from $7.3M to $15M during the second phase of its action, which has been ongoing for seven years.
Bader's three new investments were announced in a ceremony organized last night under the aegis of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and in the presence of Bader President Robert Fadel and CEO nKhaled Zeidan.
BBEF, which was launched by the Bader Group in 2006, aims to provide funding for SMEs seeking expansion. Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) manages the Bader investment fund, which is registered in Luxembourg as per the model of "investment funds and investment mechanisms specializing in venture capital." The fund's current capital amounts to $7.3M thanks to the contribution of eight key investment institutions: Fransabank, BLOM, Bank Audi, BankMed, BLF, Crédit Libanais, M1 Group and MEVP.
