# Top 20 Fashion Angel Investors in Middle East in October 2023

## Sina Afra
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: E-Commerce, Software, Internet

Sina is a Serial Entrepreneur. His latest endeavor is Tiko which he founded and serves as CEO. Before that he was the Founder of Markafoni, the first Online Fashion site of Turkey. Markafoni became also the first Turkish internet company expanding beyond the borders of Turkey: Markafoni launched sites in Australia, Ukraine, Greece and Polandbetween 2009 and 2011. Sina served until 2014 as Chairman and CEO. The Naspers Group acquired in July 2011 a majority stake at Markafoni and signed for one of the biggest deals in the Turkish internet. Sina is also an active Business Angel and invests in early stage start-ups. He is the President of the Entrepreneur Foundation and Endeavor Turkey Board (2013-2017).Sina has been elected as the “Internet Entrepreneur of the Year” and “Business Angel of the Year” in Turkey. Markafoni won several awards: “Best Web Start-up 2011” and “Best Online Fashion Site in 2011, 2012 and 2013”. The Wired UK magazin elected in 2012 and 2013 Markafoni to the hottest 100 companies in Europe. Sina was also selected (2014 & 2015) to the Top 100 most influential tech people Europe. In 2016 he was selected as one of Top 100 most influential tech people in the World (Wired Magazine). Forbes Magazin elected him to the "Brightest Minds" alive in Turkey (2019).Prior to Markafoni, Sina spent more than 5 years with eBay and 12 years with KPMG. Sina received a "Diplom Kaufmann" from Münster University and joined later Harvard Business School. He speaks five languages. His passion goes with his family and esports where he is the President of "1907 Fenerbahçe esports” team - a professional esports team in the TCL. He shares his thoughts on eCommerce in his personal blog www.sinaafra.com and on twitter (sinaafra).

## Nevzat Aydın
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Internet, E-Commerce, Software

Nevzat Aydın is the CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, the first and biggest online food delivery portal in Turkey.Born in 1976 in İstanbul, Nevzat Aydın completed his secondary education at the Bursa Anatolian High School. Following his graduation from Boğaziçi University Department of Computer Engineering, he went to the United States where he receivedhis MBA at the University of San Francisco in Silicon Valley.During his stay in the United States, Aydın followed the latest developments on e-trade before he returned to Turkey in 2000 to launch his project, Yemeksepeti.com. Serving as the CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, Nevzat Aydın introduced a brand new dimension to e-trade in Turkey.In 2007, Yemeksepeti.com was selected the “Endeavor Entreprenur” by Endeavor Turkey. Aydin was also selected the “Most Successful Turkish Young Entrepreneur” by the CNBC-e Business magazine in 2010 for his successful work since the foundation of Yemeksepeti.com.As the founder and CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, which celebrated its 11th anniversary in 2012, he won the first prize in 2011 in the “Male Entrepreneur of the Year” category at the “Businesspeople of the Year” survey conducted by the Ekonomist magazine among nearly 3,000 business people.Aydin is a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Supreme Board of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, and a founding member of Galata Business Angels.Aydın was one of the 150 entrepreneurs invited from all over the world to the Entrepreneurship Summit held by US President Barack Obama on April 26-27, 2010.He was also among the speakers at the DLD (Digital-Life-Design) Conference, which is deemed as one of the world's most prestigious conferences with its content on innovation and developments in the digital world. He is also an editorial advisor of GQ Turkey, one of the 5 “dragons” of the Dragons’ Den Turkey show, and a Board Member of Trabzonspor sports club.

## Nasser Chourbagi
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Fashion, E-Commerce, Sustainability

Nasser Chourbagi is the owner of Consolidated Casuals.

## Usama Fayyad
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Seed
- Focus: Retail, Fashion, Lending

Usama is Chief Technology Officer at OODA Health. Before OODA, he was Founder and CEO of Open Insights, where he consulted clients on artificial intelligence, big data strategies and new business models. Usama was the first Global Chief Data Officer at Barclays in London, after he launched the largest tech startup accelerator in MENA as ExecutiveChairman of Oasis500 in Jordan.His background includes Chairman and CEO roles at several startups, including Blue Kangaroo Corp, DMX Group and digiMine (Audience Science). He was the first person to hold the Chief Data Officer title when Yahoo! acquired his second startup in 2004. He has held leadership roles at Microsoft and founded the machine learning systems group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where his work on machine learning resulted in the top Excellence in Research award from Caltech, and a U.S. Government medal from NASA.Usama has published over 100 technical articles on data mining, data science, AI/ML, and databases. He holds over 30 patents and is a Fellow of both the AAAI and the ACM. Usama earned his PhD in Engineering in AI and Machine Learning from the University of Michigan. He holds two BSE’s in Engineering, a MSE Computer Engineering and a MSc in Mathematics.

## Klaus Hommels
- Type: Angel
- Location: Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Seed
- Focus: E-Commerce, Software, News

Klaus Hommels is Founder of Lakestar. Lakestar invests in European as well as U.S. companies that show fast international growth. Klaus has been involved in the early days of investments such as Skype, Xing, King, Facebook, Spotify and Airbnb. More recent investments include online men's grooming business Harry's, GoEuro, Opendoor andFiveAI. Klaus started his career at Bertelsmann, before joining AOL Germany in 1995 as a Board Member. He was also a venture partner of Benchmark Capital Europe. He earned his MBA and PhD in finance from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He was ranked as one of the top Europe-based venture capital investors in the global Midas List 2013, 2014 and 2015 and just became third best European investor in the first European list of the same ranking. Lakestar is the leading European VC with a true global presence with offices in Zurich, Berlin and London as well as satellites in New York and Hong Kong. Klaus has a strong voice in the European Tech Ecosystems which he supports passionately with various initiatives, eg. the 'Internet Foundation'.Klaus started his career at Bertelsmann, before joining AOL Germany in 1995 as a Board Member. He was also a venture partner of Benchmark Capital Europe. He earned his MBA and PhD in finance from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He was ranked as one of the top Europe-based venture capital investors in the global Midas List 2013, 2014 and 2015 and just became third best European investor in the first European list of the same ranking. Lakestar is the leading European VC with a true global presence with offices in Zurich, Berlin and London as well as satellites in New York and Hong Kong. Klaus has a strong voice in the European Tech Ecosystems which he supports passionately with various initiatives, eg. the 'Internet Foundation'.

## Mehmet Ayan
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Fashion, Shopping, E-Commerce

Mehmet Ayan is an angel investor.

## 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).

## Manu Gupta
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Software

Manu is the founder of Blue Lion Global VC, and was previously a founding member and Partner of Lakestar VC (>$1.4bn). He splits time between San Francisco and London.

## Max Burger
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A
- Focus: B2B, SaaS, Enterprise Software

Max Burger is an Angel Investor in Asia, Europe and the United States. He is the co-owner of FMCG.

## Paul Antaki
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Fashion, E-Commerce, Sustainability

Paul Antaki

## Barbaros Özbugutu
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Retail, Soccer, Sports

Barbaros Serdar Özbugutu worked for FIRSTDATA, and later moved to KLARNA. In 2013, he officially launched Iyzico with his Co-Founder Tahsin Isin. Iyzico is transforming the payment processing experience for businesses through its bank-integrated, fraud-protected payment platform tailored to the nuances of the Turkish market.(https://www.iyzico.com/en)

## Karim Kawar
- Type: Angel
- Location: Amman, Amman, Jordan
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Retail, Fashion, Shopping

Karim Kawar is the president of Kawar Group, and the former ambassador to the United States and Mexico from Jordan. He is also chairman of Kawar Energy and of IrisGuard. As ambassador to the United States, Kawar led the EDAMA Initiative, Jordan's blueprint for a green economy and was appointed by Royal Decree to the Board of Trustees of theKing Abdullah II Fund for Development. Previously, Kawar was appointed to the Economic Consultative Council by His Majesty King Abdullah II. He is the architect of the REACH Initiative, Jordan's blueprint for a knowledge economy, founder and chairman of the Information Technology Association of Jordan, former president of the Jordan Computer Society, and a founding member of several business associations and NGOs, including AmCham and the Jordan Intellectual Property Association.

## 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.

## Abhishek Sharma
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Apps, Retail, Fashion

Abhishek is the Co-Founder and COO of Fashinza, a global tech-enabled manufacturing company helping Fashion brands source apparel using data and cloud that is more sustainable, ethical, inclusive, fast, and efficient. Fashinza is funded by leading VCs, Accel Partners, Elevation Capital, Prosus Ventures (Naspers), Westbridge, and ADQ UAE.He hasextensive experience in product & technology, building start-ups like Flipkart (India’s leading eCommerce platform acquired by Walmart), LimeRoad, Curofy (acquired by RoundGlass USA) & BharatPe. He is also a writer and guest author for ProductSchool, Hackernoon, Prototypr, and Noteworthy

## Volkan Bicer
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Online Games, iOS, Mobile

Volkan Biçer is the co-founder of Mobilike, a mobile advertisement network.Bicer’e employment history includes his time as product manager of Turkcell’s mobile marketing and advertising department, and community manager at Yahoo, Turkey.Bicer holds a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from Boğaziçi University and an MBAfrom Galatasaray University.

## Danny Hadar
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series B
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

For the last 10 years, I have been active within the Israeli and US startup ecosystems where I completed 20+ seed investments in companies such as Geoforce (acquired by LLR), Bonobo (acquired by Salesforce), Optitex (acquired by Efi), Keeprz (acquired by Como), Drippler (acquired by Soluto), Snyk (Unicorn) and few others. I am passionate for seedinvestments, creative ideas, risk taking and supporting entrepreneurs.Prior to that, I founded 2 companies, Blue Sky (Energy) and Sinusafe (Medical) after working as a software engineer for 7 years.I grew up in Israel, and lived in the US for 5 years while completing my MBA from Duke. I love all kinds of extreme sports, and particularly kite surfing and snowboarding.

## Burak Divanlıoğlu
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Series B
- Focus: Internet, E-Commerce, Shoes

Burak Divanlıoglu is the founder at GittiGidiyor, a Turkish e-shopping mall offering auctions, stores, and fixed price listings.

## Arda Turan
- Type: Angel
- Location: Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Fashion, Jewelry, Shopping

Arda Turan is a Turkish footballer.

## Serkan Borancılı
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Angel, Series B
- Focus: E-Commerce, Internet, Shoes

Serkan Borançılı is the founding partner of GittiGidiyor, Turkey's leading consumer-to-consumer marketplace, which was acquired by eBay in 2011 for $220 million dollars.
Born in 1971 in Ankara, Borançılı graduated from Istanbul Technical University with a degree in Architecture. After working as a freelance architect, he founded ARKInformation Technologies with Burak Divanlıoğlu in 1999. Up to 2004 GittiGidiyor was administered by ARK.
Borançılı is also the co-founder of UzmanTV, a video website specializing in curated content by experts, and Istanbul.net, Turkey's largest online dating platform.
Borançılı is also the first investor in BiTaksi, Turkey's leading taxi-hailing app. Since, he has also invested in Modacruz, a marketplace for secondhand luxury fashion.

## Onur Gargılı
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Retail, Fashion, E-Commerce

Onur Gargılı

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