Dubai-based Enhance closes $1.5m seed funding round

Dubai-based web business holding company Enhance has announced its closing of a $1.5m seed funding round.

The company said the round saw investments from Saudi’s iNet, Silicon Valley’s 500 Startups, UAE-based Shorooq Investments and leading angel investors from the Gulf, Europe and the US.

Enhance, which was founded in 2015 by Alper Celen and Ritesh Tilani, operates a holding company model where it seeks investments and partnerships for specific ventures due to funding challenges and fragmented markets in the Middle East and Africa.

Its current portfolio includes online gift aggregator Joi and medical travel marketplace Medigo, which has backing form Accel Partners luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, according to Enhance’s website.

“It has been a great experience building an offline to online migration platform like joi. We now plan to use this experience to continue joi’s rapid growth and launch other vertical marketplaces that benefit from joi’s capabilities,” said Tilani.

“With iNet, 500 Startups, Shorooq Investments and other prominent investors onboard, we have access to great regional and global know-how and funding which will be instrumental in the next phase of our growth.”

Enhance currently has marketing, technical, and operational personnel in Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah and Cairo and plans to use its capabilities for new marketplace ventures.