Bireme ad(ventures)

Startup ecosystems in the United States continue to be major magnets for young Lebanese companies that want to benefit from valuations that the local market seems unlikely to generate. Executive learned of a new fund called Bireme Ventures from Elie Habib, the fund’s managing partner. In an interview during the central bank’s international startup conference BDL Accelerate 2015, Habib tells us that the fund has a target of $20 million and wants to achieve a first close of $5 to 10 million by the second quarter of 2016 to be deployed in facilitating the sojourns of Lebanese and Gulf-based startups across the Atlantic Ocean. “We are seeing more and more companies maturing and facing the need to expand into the United States to accelerate their growth and acquire new customers. These companies need capital to reach the place from where they can reach the next level in their performance,” Habib