# Top 50 Payments Angel Investors in Middle East in October 2023

## Yaron Lemelbaum
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: SaaS, FinTech, Artificial Intelligence

Mr. Lemelbaum is an experienced Film Producer. Since 2007 Mr Lemelbaum is also involved in Investment Research and Managment, and serves on the Board of Directors of Israeli listed public companies AMS Electronics and BSR Europe.
Mr. Lemelbaum holds a BA in Computer Science from IDC, and MBA from Columbia University

## Musaab Hakami
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Software

GP. Ex-Entrepreneur. Ex-Computer Engineer. Angel Investor. BoD. Ex-CCO & CFO @trySaryApp

## Chris Adelsbach
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Software

Chris Adelsbach - Founding Partner @ Outrun Ventures

## Mark Ransford
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Payments

Angel Investor

## Nati Harpaz
- Type: Angel
- Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: PaaS, FinTech, Internet

Nati Harpaz is the CEO of Catch Group, Australia’s largest pure eCommerce organisation with a retail product business as well as a daily deals business. Nati’s focus is on building cultures in organisations to enable rapid growth which stems from the understanding that management cannot compromise on the quality of its human resource as well as therequirement of a very clear and concise business strategy to allow the entire organisation to focus on achieving it.On top of his position as CEO of Catch Group he is also the chairman of APAC’s largest retail media organisation – Inside Retail as well as an advisory board member of several publicly listed companies.

## Omar Darwazah
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- 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.

## Omar Bajarash
- Type: Angel
- Location: Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Debt Financing
- Focus: SaaS, Payments, Logistics

Omar Bajarash

## Private Private
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Software, Cryptocurrency

Private Private

## Othmane Bouhlal
- Type: Angel
- Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Payments, E-Commerce, Mobile Payments

Othmane Bouhlal is the Founder of Kapten.

## Kunal Shah
- Type: Angel
- Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Internet

Kunal Shah

## Jitendra Gupta
- Type: Angel
- Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Payments

Jitendra Gupta is the Founder of Jupiter.

## Assaf Rappaport
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Information Technology, SaaS

Assaf Rappaport is the Co-Founder and CEO of Wiz. He previously worked at Microsoft as a General Manager, at Microsoft Israel R&D. Assaf Rappaport attended Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.

## Eduardo Ronzano
- Type: Angel
- Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel
- Focus: Software, SaaS, E-Commerce

Eduardo Ronzano is the Founder of KelDoc.

## Samih Toukan
- Type: Angel
- Location: Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Social Media, Mobile, Financial Services

In the year 2000 Samih founded and became the CEO of Maktoob.com the world’s first Arabic email and largest Arab Online community. In 2005 Samih cofounded Souq.com, the Arab Worlds largest ecommerce site. In 2009 Maktoob was acquired by Yahoo! and in 2017 Souq.com was acquired by Amazon in the largest technology acquisition deals in the history ofthe region.Samih is currently the Chairman of Jabbar Internet Group (Jabbar.com). Jabbar today is one of the leading investors in Internet and technology companies in the region.

## Jonathan Smith
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Big Data, Internet, Payments

Jonathan has more than 15 years of experience in banking and technology advisory.After a successful career in some of the most complex and security sensitive environments, Jonathan brings his talent for technology leadership, innovation and delivery to the world of digital identity.

## Faisal Al-Abdulsalam
- Type: Angel
- Location: Riyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: E-Commerce, Payments, Shipping

Faisal Al-Abdulsalam is the founder of Purity, and an active investor in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

## Mato Perić
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, E-Commerce

Mato invests in technology companies globally. His portfolio companies have raised over US$ 5 billion in capital, employ >15,000 people and have operations in 35 countries across six continents.

## Guillaume Houzé
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: FinTech, Payments, Blockchain

Founder of Motier Ventures. Executive Board member of the Galeries Lafayette Group. President of ANDAM and Lafayette Anticipations.

## Didier Valet
- Type: Angel
- Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Software

Didier Valet

## Philippe Teixeira da Mota
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Credit

Partner at Hedosophia

## Prajit Nanu
- Type: Angel
- Location: Singapore, Central Region, Singapore
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Advice, Payments, Financial Services

Prajit serves as our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors. Based in Mumbai, Prajit is responsible for executing the business strategy and directing the overall performance and growth of our organization. He is also in charge of driving innovation across processes and create value add for customers. Prior to co-foundingInstarem Prajit, held several leadership positions in global companies, including Global Sales Director, TMF Group and Vice President, Sales and Account Management at WNS (NYSE:WNS). He is a graduate from Mumbai University.

## Thibaud Elziere
- Type: Angel
- Location: Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Belgium
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Internet, SaaS

Thibaud Elzière is the Founder at Efounders.

## Sebastien Borget
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Gaming

Sebastien Borget is the Co-founder and COO of Pixowl. Passionate for blockchain technology, gaming and education, he is a very active speaker and evangelist who spent the past 8 years focused exclusively on mobile gaming, creating successful games that were downloaded millions of times.

## Erik Podzuweit
- Type: Angel
- Location: Munich, Bayern, Germany
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Impact Investing

Erik has many years of experience in the financial and e-commerce sector. Until last, he was Co-CEO at Westwing Home & Living Germany. Prior to this, Erik spent 7 years working in London and Frankfurt as an Executive Director and Vice President for Goldman Sachs.Erik studied Business and Economics at the University of Kiel and Warwick BusinessSchool. In addition, he was a tutor for statistics and econometrics.

## Florian Prucker
- Type: Angel
- Location: Munich, Bayern, Germany
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Credit

Florian spent over 8 years in the financial services industry based in New York, Frankfurt and most recently London. As Executive Director of Securities Trading at Goldman Sachs, he oversaw the creation of a pan-European electronic trading platform for private investors.Prior to this, he was responsible for servicing private bank and assetmanagement clients in Germany and Austria. Florian studied Business and Electronics at the Technical University of Munich.

## Ilker Sozdinler
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: E-Commerce, Retail, Big Data

Ilker Sozdinler is the Founder, CEO and Managing Partner of Birleşik Ödeme.

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

Deniz Devrim Cengiz

## Arya Bolurfrushan
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: Software, E-Commerce, Education

Arya H. Bolurfrushan is a Founder & CEO at AAICO. He attended Harvard Business School from 2008 to 2010.

## Jon Oringer
- Type: Angel
- Location: Miami, Florida, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Information Technology, E-Commerce

Jon Oringer is the founder and chairman of Shutterstock.

## Sandeep Nailwal
- Type: Angel
- Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Financial Services

Sandeep Nailwal is the Co-Founder of Polygon. He is a former Co-Founder and CEO of Scopeweaver. He attended the National Institute of Industrial Engineering.

## Amrish Rau
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Payments

Amrish Rau is the CEO of Pine Labs.

## Dov Baharav
- Type: Angel
- Location: Sunnyvale, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: Security, Cyber Security, Fraud Detection

Dov Baharav has served as a member of our board of directors since November 2010. Dov is the chairman of Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. - a leading provider of products and services for satellite-based broadband communications, and of Cyberint Technologies Ltd.- which specializes in Information and Cyber Security. Dov has served as the chairmanof the board of directors of Israel Aerospace Industries, Ltd., a defense and civil aerospace technology company, from July 2011 until October 2013. From July 2002 until November 2010, Dov served as president and chief executive officer of Amdocs Management Limited, or Amdocs, a communications services company. He also served as a member of Amdocs’ board of directors and executive committee from July 2002 until November 2010. Dov joined Amdocs in 1991 as vice president and then president of Amdocs’ principal U.S. subsidiary, Amdocs, Inc., and served as chief financial officer of Amdocs from 1995 until June 2002. From 1983 until 1991, Dov served as chief operating officer of Optrotech Ltd., an electro optical device company. Dov is the chairman of scholarships fund with the College of Management Academic Studies in Rishon Lezion, Israel. He was also a member of the board of directors of SeamBI, a private advertising technology company, from July 2006 to November 2012. Dov holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Accounting, as well as a Master of Business Administration, from the University of Tel Aviv. Dov is located in Israel.

## Jonathan Ebinger
- Type: Angel
- Location: Menlo Park, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Series B, Series C
- Focus: FinTech, Software, Financial Services

Jonathan Ebinger is a General Partner at BlueRun Ventures where he focuses on mobile, enterprise software and fintech. Prior to BlueRun, Jonathan was a marketing executive at Qwest Communications, Bell Atlantic and MCI Communications. He has also started e-commerce businesses as an entrepreneur. He brings his operations and startup experience toearly stage startups and has led investments in Coupa, Kabbage, Radius, Verve Mobile, ZeeMee and others. Jonathan received his M.B.A. from Darden Graduate School of Business at University of Virginia and also has a B.S. from Virginia Tech. He currently serves as an advisor to The Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UVA.

## Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet
- Type: Angel
- Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Retail, Health Care

Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet is an Internet entrepreneur, founder and former CEO of French e-commerce pioneer PriceMinister. After he sold Priceminister to Japanese internet giant Rakuten in 2010 for $350m, he became Rakuten Europe COO. He left Rakuten in 2014 so as to concentrate on his investments and new project.Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet is agraduate of the famous HEC Paris business school, where he studied entrepreneurship. He launched his first company, Visualis SA (a consultancy for the distribution sector), while still studying at HEC, with a €10,000 student loan. After graduating from HEC, Kosciusko-Morizet moved to the United States and became a manager in the marketing department of Finance Capital One, an internet-based credit card company. There he managed a team of 60 analysts, and specialised in the online credit and banking market.It was there that Kosciusko-Morizet saw a gap in the market. While websites existed in the United States linking buyers and sellers online, there was no equivalent site in France. He resigned from Finance Capital One and returned to France two weeks later to work on what would become PriceMinister with Pierre Krings, Olivier Mathiot, Nathalie Maurin and Justin Ziegler. In 2001 Priceminister launched and has grown into one of the largest and most successful e-commerce companies in France, currently employing around 200 passionate and dedicated staff.Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet is a former President of the ACSEL (Association of the Digital Economy) and of the ASIC (Association of Internet Community Services), and Chairman and main investor of the Strategic Committee of ISAI, the “French internet entrepreneurs fund”, that raised over $100m. In 2010 Kosciusko-Morizet published an autobiographical book which details the story of PriceMinister.

## Eyal Ofer
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series B, Series A, Series C
- Focus: Financial Services, SaaS, Artificial Intelligence

Eyal Ofer (born 1950) is Chairman of Ofer Global, leading the group’s private portfolio of international businesses in shipping, real estate, energy, technology, banking and investments. In 2017, Eyal launched O.G. Venture Partners, a single LP Venture Capital fund focused on investing in early-growth-stage technology start-ups, demonstrating hislong-standing support for tech entrepreneurs.In 2022, O.G. Venture Partners announced Fund II of $400M following the successful $100m Fund I, later expanded to $150m. Fund I has invested in 21 companies since its 2017 launch, with 5 exits already. The Fund I portfolio includes: LendBuzz, WSC Sports, BlueVine, Bringg, Paxos, Connecteam, Elementor, Coralogix, Candivore and SuperPlay.
Eyal Ofer (born 1950) is Chairman of Ofer Global, leading the group’s private portfolio of international businesses in shipping, real estate, energy, technology, banking and investments. In 2017, Eyal launched O.G. Venture Partners, a single LP Venture Capital fund focused on investing in early-growth-stage technology start-ups, demonstrating his long-standing support for tech entrepreneurs.
In 2022, O.G. Venture Partners announced Fund II of $400M following the successful $100m Fund I, later expanded to $150m. Fund I has invested in 21 companies since its 2017 launch, with 5 exits already. The Fund I portfolio includes: LendBuzz, WSC Sports, BlueVine, Bringg, Paxos, Connecteam, Elementor, Coralogix, Candivore and SuperPlay.

## n0b0dy.eth Nobody Vault
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Gaming, Bitcoin, Finance

n0b0dy.eth Nobody Vault

## Amir Sarhangi
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Financial Services

Amir Sarhangi is the VP of Product and Delivery at Ripple. Amir Sarhangi attended California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo.

## Yan Hascoët
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel, Seed, Series A
- Focus: Banking, Finance, Cannabis

Yan Hascoët

## omar bajarash
- Type: Angel
- Location: Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: SaaS, Payments, Logistics

omar bajarash

## Avi Naor
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: Security, Cyber Security, Fraud Detection

Mr. Naor is the founder and Chairman of Or-Yarok Association and the Chairman of the National Authority for Highway Safety Steering Committee. Prior to this Mr. Naor served as President & CEO of Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), a global leader in billing systems, CRM, self service, order management, mediation, and content revenue management. Mr. Naor wasalso a member of the Aurec Group, an Israeli-based private equity firm with cable and telecom investments.

## Mario Segal
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: Security, Cyber Security, Fraud Detection

Mario Segal - Partner @ AfterDox

## Emmanuel Costa
- Type: Angel
- Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, Mobile Apps, Cryptocurrency

Emmanuel Costa is the Founder & Project Manager at Bankin.

## Valentine Baudouin Barbelivien
- Type: Angel
- Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: AgTech, Farming, FinTech

Valentine Baudouin Barbelivien

## Timothy Li
- Type: Angel
- Location: Irvine, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: FinTech, Finance, Financial Services

Timothy has been working in FinTech and Marketplace Lending industry for the past decade. He has launched various marketplace lending platforms and held c-level positions at RealtyMogul.com, loanDepot.com, Quick Bridge Funding, Think Finance and JPMorgan Chase.Timothy also co-founded LendFoundry.com, KuberFinancial.com MaxDecision.com. He alsosits on various advisory boards such as Ziero Finance, Solar Mosaic, Blinker Inc., Docitt and CreditExchange.in.Timothy holds various degrees from Harvard Business School, University of Southern California and San Jose State University.

## Connor Theilmann
- Type: Angel
- Location: Greater Los Angeles Area, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, SaaS, Information Technology

Connor Theilmann is the Chief Business Officer at ServiceTitan. Previously he was an investor at Accel in Palo Alto. He attended The Wharton School for Accounting and Finance & the Penn Engineering School for Computer Science.

## Yahya Bajarash
- Type: Angel
- Location: Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Debt Financing
- Focus: SaaS, Payments, Logistics

Yahya Bajarash

## Tom Brown
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Seed
- Focus: FinTech, Transaction Processing, Payments

Tom Brown is a consultant for Camp One Ventures, LLC. He has more than fifteen years experience in the payment industry, including a stint at Visa U.S.A. Inc., where he worked on the company’s reorganization and eventual IPO (NYSE: V). Tom has counseled a number of the market leaders in the payment industry and has been described by the FinancialTimes as charting the future of mobile payments. He is a partner at a global law firm with offices in, among other places, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Hong Kong, Seoul and Bejing, and serves as co-chair of the firm’s global payment systems practice. He serves as a non-lawyer advisor to a number of companies, including Zooz, LevelMoney, and Upstart. Thomas Brown holds a B.A. from Columbia College and a J.D. from the University of Chicago.

## 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.

## Kathryn Petralia
- Type: Angel
- Location: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: B2B, Banking, FinTech

Kathryn Petralia is the Co-founder and President of Kabbage Inc., a data and technology company offering automated cash flow solutions to small businesses. Kathryn is a seasoned leader in financial services with more than 20 years’ experience across credit, payments and lending. Recognized as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World byForbes, Kathryn helps lead Kabbage to simplify the way small businesses access the capital and services they need to build lasting businesses.

## Cihan Demir
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Big Data, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency

Cihan Demir is the Founder & CEO of Finartz. He previously worked at mypat as a Co-Founder. Cihan Demir attended Maltepe University.

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