The largest investment fund in Jordan, the Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund (ISSF) has made a USD one million investment during August in Access Bridge Ventures (ABV); a UAE-based early-stage venture capital fund focused on the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan.

With a prominent regional and international standing - attained through its management network, partner support and affiliation with leading private equity firm CedarBridge Capital Partners - ABV serves as a first institutional investor, empowering entrepreneurs on their journeys from the early stages by extending end-to-end investment and operational expertise. By doing so, ABV nurtures distinguished leaders across various sectors, including healthtech, edtech, fintech, enterprise-tech and Software as a Service (SaaS).

“We are pleased with our decision to invest in ABV, which is renowned for its strong network of partners. The regional fund will effectively outreach and support Jordanian early-stage startups to become leaders within their respective fields, thereby actively contributing towards the national economy and supplying talents, solutions and innovations that keep pace with today’s tech-driven era,” commented ISSF CEO, Laith Al Qasem.

ABV Managing Partner, Issa Aghabi, stated, “The MENA landscape has transformed over the past few years, with entrepreneurs and startups acting as powerful catalysts for economic growth and development. ABV boasts the unique ability to identify and cultivate this new breed of tech companies, many of which are extraordinary in their own right, and help them realize their full potentials. Our partnership with the ISSF will further enhance ABV’s capacity to invest in and work with promising home-grown Jordanian entrepreneurs to ultimately make them regional successes.”

The objective of the ISSF is to support and elevate Jordan’s entrepreneurial and innovation landscape by facilitating the establishment of new investment funds that serve the ecosystem; making direct investments in innovative, export-oriented and scalable local startups; as well as implementing initiatives that improve the capabilities of Jordanian entrepreneurs and startup teams through training, capacity building and targeted incubation and acceleration programs.