Tunisian Investment Fund Reveals Deeptech Portfolio
A Tunisian investment fund has, for the first time, unveiled its entire deeptech portfolio. The portfolio consists of 11 startups, spanning three continents, with founders trained at prestigious institutions such as MIT, Stanford, and EPFL. This is the result of the Titan Seed Fund I, managed by Medin VC, which was revealed last night at the Startup Village in Menzah.
Two and a Half Years of Discreet Work
The event brought together institutional investors, partner funds of Smart Capital, and the founders of the selected startups. "We have been discreet, but we have been very busy," said Ghazi Ben Othmane. Two and a half years of intense work, away from the spotlight, have gone into building what is now one of the first deeptech funds in Africa.
Ambition Beyond Financing
The ambition, Ben Othmane explained, goes beyond financing. It aims to transform Tunisia into a technological hub, modeled after Singapore - not just a consumer or transformer of technology, but a producer of world-class intellectual property. This positioning is anchored in the current geopolitical context: "It's not just about using technology, but also mastering it, developing it, and owning it."
Noomane Fehri's Message to Startups and Investors
Noomane Fehri addressed the startups, saying, "Without you, there would be no fund." He then turned to the investors, highlighting the courage of those who believed in the project from the start: "Putting two million dinars into an idea, people who put their retirement and money with you - thank you."
Technological Sovereignty
Fehri and Ben Othmane share the same conviction, each expressing it in their own way. The sectors they have focused on - LifeScience, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence - were identified as early as 2018, long before digital sovereignty became a topic of discussion. "We deeply believe in technological sovereignty," Fehri said. Ben Othmane had also emphasized this principle, stating that current geopolitical events "show that technological sovereignty is important" - for nations of all sizes, including Tunisia.
Building Sovereignty through Partnerships
For Fehri, this sovereignty is not built in isolation, but through partnerships. He sees the Franco-Tunisian and Swiss-Tunisian partnerships supported by this fund as a concrete response to the concentration of digital dependencies among a few powers. "The north and south of the Mediterranean will always live together, no matter what we do. We can't change geography. So, we must find a common sovereignty."
Eleven Startups, Three Sectors
The portfolio covers three strategic areas:
- Artificial Intelligence: Thunders automates software testing with pre-trained agents, promising to reduce maintenance costs by 90%. Qubit Engineering develops quantum optimization algorithms for energy networks. Degla orchestrates drone fleets in natural language for search and rescue operations. NativeAds.ai reinvents advertising production using generative AI, with human control maintained in the loop.
- LifeScience: DigeHealth develops a portable device for continuous monitoring of intestinal activity through acoustic analysis. BiPER Therapeutics works on a new class of anticancer molecules targeting a key protein in cellular stress. ABI valorizes scientific discoveries into commercializable solutions via an intellectual property licensing mechanism. Moonlight AI applies computer vision to liquid biopsies to democratize oncological diagnosis. Wealthy Technology automates regulatory documentation for pharmaceutical and medtech actors, with announced savings of 75% on costs and 80% on deadlines.
- Cybersecurity: Pwn & Patch monitors billions of data points in real-time on the dark and deep web. Preemptics simulates real attacks to identify vulnerabilities, particularly in AI-powered systems.
The Next Step
The next step is already outlined. Fehri announced a second fund in the process of being structured, with a larger envelope and the ambition to extend the model to Morocco and Algeria.
