# Top 35 Digital Media Angel Investors in Middle East in October 2023

## Firat Isbecer
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Internet, Software, SaaS

Firat Isbecer is an entrepreneur and a seed investor. His first venture Pozitron, a mobile software company focusing on digital banking, commerce and mobile payments, became one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies in Europe with clients across the globe. After multi years of growth and a successful international expansion, Pozitronwas acquired by London-based fin-tech star Monitise plc in 2014.After the acquisition, he joined Monitise and oversaw the company’s regional operations as the MEA Managing Director. Monitise MEA quickly became one of the most profitable business units of Monitise Group. In 2017, Monitise Group was fully acquired by the US-based, Fiserv Inc, one of the world's largest fin-tech companies with more than 50,000 employees.Shortly after the acquisition, he left Fiserv and founded his newest venture, Commencis. Commencis helps leading brands grow and scale in digital, powered by it’s Big Data, Analytics and Cloud products.In September 2019, Commencis expanded to Berlin, Germany by announcing finbyte, a joint-venture in fintech solutions. Besides Commencis, he is also an active seed investor. Member of Galata Business Angels, Turkey’s first angel investor group.After graduating from Robert College in Istanbul, Firat received his Bachelor’s Degree from Galatasaray University, and his Master’s Degree from a joint programme by Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

## Rami Lipman
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: SaaS, Software, Machine Learning

Rami Lipman is an angel investor.

## Eilon Tirosh
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series C
- Focus: Apps, FinTech, Digital Entertainment

Eilon Tirosh is a Startup Helper at SpearHealth. He attended Tel Aviv University.

## Kerem Tokcan
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Podcast, Digital Media, Media and Entertainment

Kerem Tokcan

## Justin Lubliner
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Content, Software, Digital Media

Justin Lubliner is a CEO of the Darkroom.

## Eric Elalouf
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: Software, Photography, Digital Media

Eric Elalouf

## Fady Hannah-Shmouni, MD FRCPC
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Financial Services, Blockchain, FinTech

Fady Hannah-Shmouni, MD ABIM FRCPC is an Iraqi-Canadian physician-entrepreneur who specializes in endocrinology, hypertension and genetics. He is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia, and an early-stage investor and advisor with over 10 years of clinical and business experience. He has conducted extensive researchin the field of hormones and genetics at America’s research hospital, the National Institutes of Health, and co-founded and financed several startup companies in the fintech, blockchain and healthcare sectors. Business:Fady is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of FHS Capital (fhscapital.io), a privately held early-stage investment fund focusing on real estate, express car wash services, wellness and digital assets. He serves as a strategic advisor and consultant on several healthTech and blockchain companies, focusing on strategic planning, operational skills, business support, and financing. He led several seed financing rounds, including; Ovenue Inc. (ovenue.com), a no-code AI and blockchain Platform-as-a-Service for real-world asset valuation and tokenization; Flyby (flyby.global), a technology platform connecting last mile delivery with digital out of home advertising; and Fluus (fluus.com), a web3 ramping solution. Medicine:Fady completed clinical training in internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine; adult endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the National Institutes of Health; and clinical biochemical genetics at the University of Toronto. He is board-certified in internal medicine and endocrinology by the American Board of Internal Medicine and Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Canada; and in clinical hypertension by the American Society of Hypertension. He is an active staff physician and adjunct professor at Vancouver General Hospital (UBC), and Trillium Health Partners (UofT), and a fellow with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Research: Fady served the NIH (2015-2021) as a physician-scientist in endocrinology/genetics, Head of Graduate Medical Education and Associate Program Director of endocrinology fellowship program. His research interests remain on adrenal disorders including primary aldosteronism, a common cause of hypertension that is potentially reversible with early detection and treatment. He has authored over 100 original articles, book chapters and reviews on endocrine-genetic conditions (h-index 20, i10-index 42), and was the founding member and first Editor-in-Chief of the medical journal Endocrine and Metabolic Science (Elsevier).

## Rauf Cem Erkli
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Podcast, Digital Media, Media and Entertainment

Rauf Cem Erkli

## Sami ElShafai
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Big Data, Software, Analytics

Sami ElShafai

## Yariv Gilat
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Software, Photography, Apps

Yariv Gilat is a Tectona

## Mathias Ackermand
- Type: Angel
- Location: Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Apps, Audio, Music

Mathias Ackermand is a Private Investor at Privat. Attended Kiel University.

## Faruk Eczacıbaşı
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: SaaS, Energy, Podcast

Faruk Eczacıbaşı - Deputy Vice President of Eczacıbaşı @ KWORKS Koç University Entrepreneurship Research Center

## Magnus Olsson
- Type: Angel
- Location: Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: E-Commerce, Media and Entertainment, Digital Media

Magnus Olsson is the Founder and Managing Director at Careem.

## Shalom Meckenzie
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Art, SaaS, Video

Shalom Meckenzie

## Leon Recanati
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Energy, Software, Recruiting

Leon Y. Recanati is currently the Chairman and CEO of GlenRock Israel Ltd., a private investment company whose main field of activity is venture capital investments in startup companies engaged in life sciences, biotechnology, medical devices, and in advanced technologies. Until May 2003, and prior to founding GlenRock, he served as Chairman& CEO of IDB Holding Corporation Ltd., Chairman of Clal Industries and Investments Ltd., and Chairman of Azorim Investment Development and Construction Ltd., in addition to several other positions in a variety of operating companies in Israel. Mr. Recanati initiated in 1998 Clal Biotechnologies Ltd. (CBL). Clal Industries invested $100 million in CBL. Clal Biotechnologies is considered the largest biotechnology investment company operating in Israel.

## Nimrod Cohen
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
- Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Software, SaaS

Nimrod Cohen is the Managing Partner of TAU Ventures. He previously worked at Hapoel Ramat-Gan as a Chairman. Nimrod Cohen attended Reichman University (IDC Herzliya).

## Hande Enes
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel, Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Social Media

Hande Enes

## Eddy Shalev
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series B, Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Information Technology, Enterprise Software

Eddy Shalev is an angel investor. Eddy is one of the best-known figures in the Israeli business community. Since the beginning of Israel's venture capital industry, Eddy has focused on private-equity investments in the high-tech sector, and has played a key role in several high-profile success stories, including Fundtech, ParadigmGeophysical and Orbot Instruments. Eddy is currently on the board of Aternity, Profitect and Sensible Medical.Eddy has been an active private equity investor in Israel since 1992, when he began a private equity investment program that invested in early-stage Israeli high-tech companies. Beginning in 1985, Eddy led the Israeli affiliates of Oscar Gruss and Sons Inc., and then later CIBC-Oppenheimer, where he directed the firm’s corporate banking, sales and trading, and equity research for Israeli companies traded on NASDAQ.

## Ron Zuckerman
- Type: Angel
- Location: Los Angeles, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Seed
- Focus: Internet, Video, Marketplace

Ron Zuckerman is the Co-Founder and Director of TV Time.

## Yossi Matias
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series B
- Focus: Music, Social, Content

Yossi Matias is Vice President, Engineering, at Google and the Head of Google's R&D Center in Israel which he established. He leads global efforts in Search, AI, and Crisis Response (some highlights here), and is the founding executive lead of Google’s Campus Tel Aviv, the birthplace of Launchpad and other global entrepreneurship programs.In addition to his executive and entrepreneurial experience, Yossi has been on the Computer Science faculty at Tel Aviv University, and previously a Research Scientist at Bell Labs and visiting professor at Stanford. He published extensively, has dozens of patents on his name, and pioneered some of the early technologies for the effective analysis of big data, internet privacy, and contextual search. He is a recipient of the Godel Prize and is an ACM Fellow.Yossi was on the board of IATI - Israel Advanced Technology industries - and is co-chair of IATI’s Multi National Companies Forum.

## Alfred Ruth
- Type: Angel
- Location: Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Software, Digital Media, Apps

Private investor with background as co-founder/CTO of Videoplaza. Author of speculative fiction thriller trilogy Fermi's Filter.

## Igal Weinstein
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series C, Series A
- Focus: E-Commerce, Food Delivery, Food and Beverage

Igal Weinstein

## Omar Darwazah
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series B
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Finance

Omar is a Managing Director, General Partner, and CFO at AAF Management Ltd. (AAF), an early-stage venture capital firm he co-founded in 2016. Over the past 5 years, Omar has invested in over 120 venture-backed startups in the US, Europe, and MENA region across a multitude of different sectors alongside over 800 blue-chip venture capital firms,corporate venture arms as well as notable incubators and accelerators. Omar has also deployed capital to 18 emerging managers globally. His fund performance is consistently ranked in the top decile in terms of DPI and TVPI respectively benchmarked on Cambridge Associates’ data on over 1500 US VC Funds. Previously, Omar spent 10 years of his career with OCI N.V. in Cairo and New York focusing on investor relations, strategy, and corporate finance where he worked on over $35 billion worth of corporate transactions. Prior to that, Omar was with Deloitte Tax LLP in Chicago and Deutsche Bank’s Leveraged Finance team in London.Omar also founded and successfully exited his own startup, Premier Foods SAE, which managed two gourmet fast food brands in Egypt. Omar previously advised Hikma Pharmaceuticals’ corporate venture arm Hikma Ventures on its digital healthcare investments Omar is also an angel investor in over 20 tech companies including Andela, Blockstack, BitOasis, Dayra, Freterium, Halan, FiscalNote, Thndr, and Ziina. Omar sits on the Board of the Middle East Investor Relations Association (MEIRA) and the Middle East Venture Capital Association (MEVCA). He is also a mentor to the NYU Steinhardt EdTech Accelerator, an advisor to Yale University’s Center for Digital Health and Innovation, and a judge at the Wharton School’s Venture Lab. In aggregate, Omar has over 16 years of international experience in corporate finance, corporate communications, management consulting, strategy, investor relations, and venture capital.Omar is an avid traveler and has visited 87 countries around the world. He also has an interest in film production and has been an Executive Producer on several short feature films including Baby Mine (2017) and Lab Rat (2018).Omar holds a BA in Economics and Political Science with Honors from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He was named as one of Wharton’s 40 under 40 in 2017 and one of the Top 100 the University of Chicago Alumni in Tech in 2021.

## Kamel Gazzaz
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Digital Media, NFC, Audiobooks

Kamel Gazzaz - Angel Investor @ Mars Reel

## Moshe Gaon
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Convertible Note
- Focus: Advertising, Association, Social Media Marketing

Business entrepreneur and investor in startups. For the past 20 years developer of new initiatives and ideas. CEO, Chairman of companies, political strategist and advertising expert. Lead public opinion campaigns for people and issues from breast cancer, to national elections to the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Founding Partner atmybulb.vcOwner of the Gaon Holding Group; Executive Director in the group's companies, focusing on development and marketing products and services for the global Water Smart Grid. Member of the AquaAgro Fund Investment committee, a 50 Million dollar Israeli Venture Capital Fund, focused only on developing innovative water and agriculture technologies, as well as other innovative clean technologies.

## Deniz Devrim Cengiz
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Blockchain, FinTech, Apps

Deniz Devrim Cengiz

## James Packer
- Type: Angel
- Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: iOS, Music, Android

James Packer

## Maverick Carter
- Type: Angel
- Location: Burbank, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Private Equity, Seed
- Focus: Retail, Sports, Content

Maverick Carter is the Founder and CEO of SpringHill Entertainment and it's premier digital media company UNINTERRUPTED, oversees the expanding entertainment companies’ overall strategic direction, spearheads their new business and content development partnerships, and guides their growing multi-platform global distribution efforts. Inaddition, Carter plays a vital role in all project, partner, and talent developments, leveraging key relationships and providing unique insight to create original, exclusive, and authentic content across a variety of mediums. With a steadily expanding portfolio of innovative projects, Carter has quickly become an influential figure in the media and entertainment industry. One of SpringHill Entertainment’s fastest-growing ventures is UNINTERRUPTED, the multimedia content network created by Carter and James in 2015 that provides unique personalities in sports and entertainment the platform to develop and amplify their stories. Since its debut, UNINTERRUPTED has forged partnerships with a growing list of industry-leading companies including Warner Bros. Entertainment, Facebook, and Verizon to create and distribute its unique, creative and captivating content globally across multiple platforms with a particular focus on mobile, web, and social distribution streams.

## Oren Zeev
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Series B, Seed
- Focus: Software, Internet, FinTech

Oren Zeev is the Founder of and one of the two main early backers respectively, a former board member of Zeev lives in San Francisco, California, United States.

## Gigi Levy Weiss
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, SaaS

Gigi Levy Weiss is the General Partner at NFX. He attended Tel Aviv University and the Finance Department - Kellogg School of Management.

## Kerim Kotan
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Software, SaaS, Medical Device

Kerim Kotan

## Hasan Aslanoba
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: E-Commerce, Internet, Software

business in the water industry. By 2005, the company succeeded in the Turkish bottled water industry under his guidance.In 2006, Erikli Water partnered its Turkish operations with Nestle Waters, the global leader of the bottled water industry. 

## Alex Zubillaga
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: E-Commerce, Apps, Music

Alex Zubillaga is the founder of 14W, a New York-based, venture capital firm focused on consumer Mobile, Web, E-commerce, CPG, and Media.Previously, Alex was Executive Vice President, Digital Strategy and Business Development at Warner Music Group (WMG). Prior to WMG, Alex founded Net Uno, a leading Venezuelan cable television and broadbandoperator where he served as CEO and Chairman.

## Philippe Guez
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: Software, Photography, Digital Media

Philippe Guez

## Jimmy Iovine
- Type: Angel
- Location: Malibu, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series C
- Focus: Software, Media and Entertainment, Internet

Jimmy Iovine, the Chairman of Universal Music Group’s Interscope Geffen A&M Records unit, is regarded as both a legendary figure in the music industry as well as a forward-thinking visionary.The Brooklyn-born Iovine’s four-decade career began when he was just out of his teens. As a recording engineer, he found himself in the studio withJohn Lennon and Bruce Springsteen (Born To Run, Darkness On The Edge Of Town) before setting his sights on being a producer. Building on what he’d learned from the masters, he helped Patti Smith (Easter), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Damn The Torpedoes), and U2 (Rattle & Hum) -- all current Rock and Roll Hall of Famers -- achieve career breakthroughs. He also produced Stevie Nicks first solo album (Bella Donna) as well as albums for Dire Straits (Making Movies) and The Pretenders (Get Close).Interscope, the record label that Iovine co-founded in 1990, has come to be widely regarded as the home of music’s most consistently fearless, intriguing, and popular artists, including Dr. Dre, Nine Inch Nails, U2, Mary J. Blige, No Doubt, Marilyn Manson, The Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, 50 Cent, and Lady Gaga. Powered by Iovine’s peerless rapport with musicians, new buzzed-about stars like Azealia Banks, Ellie Goulding, Kendrick Lamar, and Lana Del Rey, are ensuring that that reputation endures.With the rise of hip-hop, alternative culture, and technology, Iovine didn’t rest on his legacy but instead used his credibility and integrity to transform Interscope into a multi-media powerhouse that puts artists and ideas first. “The way I produce records now is I support record producers,” Iovine has said.Iovine co-produced the hit Eminem movie 8 Mile directed by Curtis Hanson and executive produced the critically acclaimed LeBron James documentary More Than A Game.In 2006, Iovine and hip-hop pioneer/producer Dr. Dre co-founded Beats By Dr. Dre, a high-performance headphone and sound transmission company intent on recapturing the fidelity of the studio. “Dre’s and my mission for Beats was to introduce premium audio to a generation that had never experienced the emotion of music as intended by the artists because of substandard ear buds and PCs,” says Iovine.Thanks to the sleekly designed headphones, as well as expansion into smart phones and car audio systems, Beats By Dr. Dre has been widely successful, securing the #1 spot in the billion+ dollar premium headphones industry. Iovine is now expanding the Beats Brand and reputation into the digital music space with Beats Music—the first streaming music service delivering contextually and culturally relevant playlists, personalized for each user, by real music experts. In many ways, Beats Music is Iovine’s latest “supergroup” with former Topspin exec Ian Rogers and Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor will work alongside Beats Electronics President Luke Wood to create the next chapter of the music business and bring streaming music to the masses.For the last two years, Iovine has found a new outlet for his hard-earned wisdom. Most Americans know him as the outspoken and frank mentor who shares his insight and expertise with contestants on Fox’s ratings blockbuster American Idol. Under Iovine’s watchful eye, Idol’s standout performers now release their music through Interscope, whose A&R and marketing strategies have led to breakout careers for Scotty McCreery and Phillip Phillips.

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