News Details

December 2020 

marks the 10th anniversary of Oasis500's first investment in a startup. During this decade, Oasis500 played a significant role in catalyzing the development of Jordan's entrepreneurial ecosystem and remains the lead pre-seed and seed stage investor in Jordan. 

On this occasion, we extend our thanks to all the previous team members that contributed to the establishment of Oasis500. Many thanks to the startup founders that allowed us to be part of their journeys. We are also grateful to the many investors, mentors, and partners who supported us in our mission to support Jordan's innovation and entrepreneurship industry. 

This post will recap some of our key milestones and achievements and present our key learnings from the decade. 

To date, Oasis500 has established and managed three funds; Oasis Ventures I (2011), Oasis Creative Industries (2015), and Oasis Ventures II (2019). Oasis500 has invested a total of $9.9 Million in 169 startups with a current aggregate value of $200M across the three funds. The funds are sector agnostic investing in a wide range of sectors, including but not limited to FinTech, EdTech, Enterprise SaaS, HealthTech, and eCommerce. 

Oasis500 is the investment partner of choice, investing time, knowledge, and money; the selected startups had access to business and technical support. Mentorship enabled them to raise significant follow-on funding rounds and expand regionally to be among the top regional startups in funding (see Forbes ME 50 Most Funded Startups) and, more importantly, impact shaping the future. (see WEF 100 Top Arab startups shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution). 

 The ripple effect is time changing, creating economic and social impact has driven us. Oasis500 created more than 700 job opportunities with a monthly average salary of USD 1,200 and created more than 4,000 indirect jobs. With a 38% overall success rate among startups, multiple founders established other startups or became highly productive employees; simultaneously, many startup employees have ventured into creating their startups, contributing to the new wave of entrepreneurship. 

 We are also proud of the female representation in our portfolio, currently at 36%, exceeding the international average.

 Over the years, the Oasis500 team has received and reviewed over 16,000 investment applications from aspiring founders. The pipeline is healthy, and we are excited to continue our support Journey. We have learned the art of selecting winning teams that have the potential to grow, the potential for innovative execution.  

 Building on our learnings, we have revised our program and ticket size. Our investment program addresses the lack of capital that allows the founders to test and iterate products to achieve market fit at early stages. But most importantly, it addresses the lack of skill sets that allows them to build viable solutions and solid  business and the lack of personal connections with global and local investors and corporate partners. 

 We offer Investment tickets that grant the founding team financial freedom to concentrate on the business. We also provide bespoke venture-building support from market and sector experts and access to investors and partners' global network. Our support covers crucial criteria such as developing financial projections, testing and proving their concept, refining their target market, customer acquisition strategy, and much more. Ultimately, Oasis500 will help the selected startups attract capital.

  We have also institutionalized our support post acceleration to introduce prime opportunities to connect with industry stakeholders and contribute to the startups' growth and expansion efforts. 

 Currently, Oasis500 manages and deploys funding from its active fund Oasis Ventures II. With a focus on quality early-stage startups rather than quantity, we have invested in two cohorts so far, with the third investment cycle concluding early next week. Moving forward, Oasis500's team looks forward to reaping the returns from its investments in matured companies and raising more funding for its active funds and establishing new funds to fill the pre-seed and seed-stage investment gap in Jordan.

 "What keeps us going is the multiplier effect of our time and money, that in turn lays the foundation for something much bigger."