Open Letter to the Tech Ecosystem

by Shorooq Partners as a Shareholder of Capiter

Dear Friends, Colleagues, Partners,

We can only imagine how difficult these past few weeks have been for the employees of Capiter and their families. As shareholders, we cannot emphasize enough how grateful we are for your hard work, support and patience.

As one of many investors that backed the company’s vision of disrupting the FMCG industry across its value chain at the earliest stage (our first check was at the Pre-Seed), it is saddening to see the current state, not necessarily from the potential financial outcome, but more from the damaging perception and impact it could have on the region’s young yet rapidly growing startup & venture capital ecosystem.

We understand that there is much news out there with conflicting narratives on Capiter. We know that there is a lot of interest in what we have to say as shareholders in the company and unfortunately this post is not about this.

Shorooq Partners is neither involved with the operation of Capiter nor has a Board member representation at the company and with this, we are not in a position to provide comments on the company’s behalf. As shareholders, we need to respect and let the Board continue its work through the proper legal channels. We know and trust that the Board is working tirelessly to assume their duties and responsibilities of taking care of the employees and provide clarity on the situation.

With these said, we just wanted to reiterate two punchlines for all:

Active and fact-based communication across all stakeholders at all times showcases our maturity and readiness to attract international growth capital

To become a go-to place for attracting growth and international capital, we need to earn the trust of investors, and we believe the best way to achieve this is by being thoughtful, transparent, and always seeking to discover the full factual truth. This starts at home with each one of us, and collectively we will build a trustworthy ecosystem. With this principle in mind, we commit to apply the same transparency and standards that we would ask from everyone, including the founders and the current Board members, to put people first and focus on supporting the many stakeholders that make up the Capiter family.

We are committed to serving the Egyptian market and the wider ecosystem

We are long term value investors in the MENAP region. Egypt, like many other countries, is going through difficult periods with currency volatility, supply chain disruption and so forth. However, Shorooq Partners continue to be committed to the country. We continue to work on refining our process of identifying great leaders early on, and on creating real and tangible value on the ground and helping build Egyptian companies that can scale to the world.

Sincerely,

Shorooq Partners, Shareholder of Capiter