Khalil Hassan Khalil, board member in the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) and head of its General Division of the Digital and Electronic Economy, held a joint meeting with the leaders of risk investment fund "Algebra Ventures" and the six Egyptian companies that took part in the CES exhibition in Las Vegas in January. The meeting included Tarek Asaad, co-founder of Algebra Ventures, to discuss financing the member companies of the division through Algebra's fund. Hassan said that the division is focusing on all members, especially startups that need finances or support, whether cash support or moral support, represented in consulting, marketing, and methods to reach the target markets. Algebra Ventures specialises in pumping investments to technological startups, which enjoy high added value. The company is preparing to start pumping investments into the Egyptian companies during 2017. The investments will be between $500,000 and $4m in each company, according to the quality of the company's products and the opportunity to expand in the market. This comes in light of the instructions of Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yasser El-Qadi to support startups and entrepreneurs and resolve their problems, following the success of the companies that took part in the Las Vegas exhibition. Ayman Elgohary, general manager for Cisco Egypt and a board member of the General Division of the Digital and Electronic Economy, said, "the main objectives of the division at the current phase is to attract investment and develop the Egyptian companies competitiveness and export abilities, especially since there is a real challenge facing startups. These challenges are represented in the lack of sufficient funding to develop the companies' products and to access markets successfully, in addition to the scarcity of necessary alliances required for the growth of these companies. Thus, the division communicates with investors and technological investment funds to activate the investment system in the technology field—which is one of the most important elements for increasing the development rates in Egypt during the coming period."
