COTU stands for Champions Of The Underdog. We are on a mission to reinvent how seed investing is done in the Middle East by backing extraordinary founders and showing them how to believe in themselves when they are at the loneliest, earliest, and most challenging parts of their journeys.
Location: United Arab Emirates, Dubai
Employees: 1-10
Investment Stage: Seed
Portfolio 3
| Date | Name | Website | Total Raised | Location |
| 14.05.2026 | Stitch | stitch.money | $130M | Saudi Arab... |
| 30.09.2025 | Aydi - أيد... | aydi.com | $7.5M | United Ara... |
| 09.07.2025 | Huspy | huspy.com | $59M | UAE |
Mentions in press and media 15
| Date | Title | Description |
| 19.05.2026 | Stitch Secures $25M to Revolutionize Global Financial Infrastructure | Stitch, a Saudi Arabia-based fintech innovator, has successfully raised $25 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led this significant round, marking its inaugural investment within the GCC region. This capital infusion br... |
| 14.05.2026 | Stitch Raises $25M in Series A Funding | Mohamed Oueida – Founder & CEO, Stitch (Photo: AETOSWire) Stitch, a Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based developer of a cloud-native operating system and core infrastructure layer for modern financial institutions, raised $25m in a Series A fundi... |
| 14.05.2026 | Stitch: $25 Million Raised For Financial Infrastructure Platform | Stitch announced it has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, marking the venture firm’s first investment in the GCC region. The funding round brings Stitch’s total funding to $35 million. Existing investors Arb... |
| 03.10.2025 | Aydi Secures $7.5 Million, Unleashing AI to Redefine Global Agriculture | Aydi has successfully closed a $7.5 million seed funding round. This vital investment fuels the global expansion of Orth, its groundbreaking AI agronomy assistant. Orth provides real-time, personalized farming insights. It directly addresse... |
| 03.10.2025 | MENA Digest: UAE firms Upfront, Climaty AI, Saudi’s DOO, others get funding | Credit: Reuters Early-stage startups led funding activity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region this week, with at least seven firms securing capital. These include UAE-based fintech Upfront, which raised an eight-digit pre-seed... |
| 30.09.2025 | "We Got Funded!" Aydi Secures A US$7.5 Million Seed Round This funding positions Aydi to scale Orth into a full AI Operating System for Global Agriculture, with the goal of reaching millions... | Aydi, the AI-powered platform dedicated to advancing the success and prosperity of growers worldwide,has closed a US$7.5 million seed round with funding from COTU Ventures, Daltex and Nuwa Capital with participation from Magrabi Agriculture... |
| 10.07.2025 | To grow its AI-powered SMB platform, Rekaz closes $5 M Seed investment | Rekaz, the Saudi-based software platform transforming how service businesses operate, has raised $5 million in seed funding to scale its product and expand across the region. The round was led by COTU Ventures, with participation from Impac... |
| 08.07.2025 | Huspy Raises $59M in Series B Funding | Jad Antoun, Co-Founder & CEO (left) and Ziad Nassar, Deputy CEO, Huspy Huspy, a Dubai, UAE-based proptech company, closed a $59m Series B funding. The round was led by returning investor Balderton Capital, with participation from Peak X... |
| 21.01.2025 | MoneyHash Raises $5.2M Pre-A Funding | Share this: Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Op... |
| 20.09.2024 | "We Got Funded!" UAE-Based Cercli's US$4 Million Seed Round Marks Silicon Valley-Based Afore Capital's Debut MENA Investment Launched by Akeed Azmi and David Reche, Cercli enables MENA busin... | Cercli, a UAE-headquartered payroll and employee data platform, has raised US$4 million in a seed round led by Afore Capital, a Silicon Valley-headquartered pre-seed venture capital (VC) fund. With this, Afore Capital has made its debut inv... |
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