User:Jktab/sandbox

Khaldoon Tabaza (Arabic: خلدون طبازة) is a Jordanian entrepreneur and venture capital investor. He is the founder and managing director of iMENA Group, a venture capital investment company.

Tabaza is recognized as one of the key shapers of the Middle East’s first generation of Internet professionals. He is known as the founder of the first Arabic web-portal and venture-backed online business (Arabia.com), in addition to first technology venture capital fund (Technology Development Fund) and its associated incubator, Ideavelopers, in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Khaldoon was recognized by the World Economic Forum in 2006 as a Young Global Leader and was selected as a Kauffman Venture Capital Fellow in 2012. In 2018, Arabian Business recognized him as one of the 100 most powerful Arabs globally.

Early life and education
Tabaza was born and raised in Amman, Jordan. His interest in technology began in high school, when he and his friend, Ahmad Humeid, pooled their allowances to buy Sinclair User magazine and created their own ZX Spectrum fanzine. In 1994, Tabaza received his bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Jordan but decided against a career in medicine.

Journalism and media
During his early university years, his enthusiasm for journalism landed him a weekly page in The Star, an English-language newspaper founded by Jordanian journalist and political commentator Osama Al Sharif, where he wrote about technology, media and music. He then started writing for the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat about technology developments in the Middle East. His writings caught the attention of the US-based publisher of the microcomputer magazine Byte. After writing his first piece, entitled “Windows on Arabia” for Byte’s English edition, he was offered the chance to produce the Arabic edition of the magazine in Jordan. To do so, he founded Arabian Communications and Publishing (APC) in 1994. In addition to Byte, APC acquired the rights to produce the Arabic edition of Popular Science, and a partnership publication with the Financial Times Altaqniyah Wal Amal, in print and digitally.

Online ventures
In 1994, Tabaza attended an IBM product launch in Munich where he saw “something called the Internet” for the first time, after which he decided to launch the Arab world’s first online portal, Arabia.com. Arabia.com debuted in 1995 as the first Internet service for the Arab world, reflecting the dreams and aspirations of the Arabic community, and had a penetration of more than 80 percent of total Internet users in the region two years after its launch. It was the first venture-backed online business in the region raising $25 million from investors including Intel Capital, Compaq, Al Waleed Bin Talal Al Saud, and Shuaa Capital by 2001. By 2005, Tabaza had set up another 12 online ventures.

Venture capital
In May 2001, Tabaza decided to leave Arabia.com and relocate to Egypt where he co-founded and managed the MENA region’s first regulated technology venture capital fund known as Technology Development Fund (TGF) and its affiliated technology incubator Ideavelopers. Ideavelopers received the backing of the Egyptian government.

Khaldoon started Riyada Ventures, a venture capital firm, in 2006. Its operations included more than 25 regional and international venture capital transactions. It received Terrapinn’s best venture capital fund in the Middle East and North Africa award in 2008 and 2009. Riyada was acquired by the Dubai-based Abraaj Group in 2009.

Tabaza left Abraaj in April 2011 to start iMENA Group, a venture capital investment company, alongside his cofounder Adey Salamin. In 2017, four of iMENA’s portfolio investments were selected by the World Economic Forum as part of the top 100 Arab startups shaping the 4th industrial revolution. In 2020, Khaldoon cofounded the Rua Growth Fund, a partnership between iMENA and Osool & Bakheet Investment Company – a leading investment bank in Saudi Arabia.

Incubators and accelerators
As part of his contribution to the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the MENA region, Tabaza participated in the development of several incubators and accelerators such as iPark, Oasis500.

Angel investors' networks
In collaboration with Dubai International Capital (DIC) he cofounded Arab Business Angel Network (ABAN).

Wamda
As part of his work at Riyada, he cofounded Wamda, an entrepreneurial community website offering news, resources, and market research about the region entrepreneurs and investors.

Venture Oasis podcast
In 2020, he launched Venture Oasis, a podcast in which he hosts in-depth discussions about venture capital and startups with leading members of the ecosystem. Past guests of the podcasts include Saygin Yalcin, Abbas Zuaiter, Hany Al-Sonbati, and Mohammad Jaffar.

Select Commentary

 * The New York Times: Internet Entrepreneurs Are Upbeat Despite Market's Rough Ride (2000)
 * The New York Times: The Business World; Oil Realm Embraces A Wired Economy (2001)
 * Wired: Wary Arabs Move to Net (2001)
 * The Washington Post: The Arab world’s Silicon Valley: Jordan emerges as an Internet hub (2012)
 * Bloomberg: The Sudden Rise of Arab Startups (2017)
 * CNN: Start-Up Nations (2017)
 * CNN: Who stands to benefit from the UAE's visa and investment rules? (2018)
 * CNBC: Why Did Uber Spend $3.1 Billion On A Middle Eastern Rival? (2019)
 * Financial Times: Pandemic brings surge in business for Middle East’s fintechs (2020)

Select publications
Kauffman Fellows Journal:


 * MENA’s Internet Industry: The Opportunity, Challenges and Success Stories (2015)

Byte Magazine:


 * Windows on Arabia (1993)

Arabian Business:


 * Online marketplaces: The new commerce power players (2014)
 * Cracking the online payments puzzle in MENA – Arabianbusiness (2014)
 * The Internet in 2015: Growth is in full throttle (but beware of bumps) (2015)
 * Five trends that will shape the Arab World's online industry in 2015 (2015)
 * Smartphone generation: MENA’s overnight mobile internet (2014)
 * Analysing the MidEast's surge in online classifieds (2014)

Venture Magazine:


 * Surging online classifieds (2014)
 * A good year for online industry (2015)

Personal life
Khaldoon lives in Amman, Jordan with his wife, Maysoun Bashaireh, an ophthalmologist. They have three children Joud, Zaid, and Nour.