Backing the Future of Work and the Future of Capital: BOND and Vessel Join Our Portfolio
Learn about Viaka’s new investments, recaps of events shaping the global MENA ecosystem and insights from community partner Zest Equity. Stay updated on our members, events, and curated content.
Join us as we recap the biggest highlights from Viaka and our global network—covering key events, exciting member milestones, and major industry news. Stay in the loop and be part of the journey!
Here’s what to expect in this month’s newsletter:
Upcoming Events: Join our Fireside Chat with Patrick McGinnis in NYC. If you’re in San Francisco, don’t miss Propeller’s MENA Builders Happy Hour. Plus, the call for speakers is now open for MENA Rising this November in Toronto.
New Members: We welcome two new members who joined the Viaka Angel Network.
Community Partner Feature: Our new section spotlighting partner insights begins with Zest Equity, who share “An Angel’s Guide to Investing in AI” with the Viaka community.
Recap of Our Health Tech Roundtable: we brought together founders and investors to explore how AI, regulation, and market dynamics are shaping MENA’s global health tech sector—and where the biggest opportunities lie.
Behind the Deal: Viaka’s Investment Associate, Layss Majed, shares insights on our latest investments in BOND and Vessel, two bold startups shaping the kind of MENA-aligned ventures we’re proud to back.
What’s Coming Up at Viaka
🚨Viaka NYC Mixer
Featuring Fireside Chat with Patrick McGinnis: From FOMO to Global Founder
🚨Propeller’s MENA Builders Happy Hour in San Francisco! (Partner Event)
Join Propeller, fellow MENA founders, investors, and tech enthusiasts in San Francisco for a relaxed evening of connection and conversation.
🗣️ MENA RISING: Call for speakers! (Viaka Confrence)
This fall, we’re launching MENA Rising — a new Viaka conference series, starting with a full-day event in Toronto
We're curating speakers. If you or someone you know fits one of the following, reach out to hello@viaka.net:
– Founders (Canada/GCC/MENA)
– Cross-border or growth VCs
– Angel investors with interest or ties to MENA
– Ecosystem or accelerator leads
– LPs, policy voices, or ops/GTM leaders
Topics include:
– How global MENA talent is powering Canadian innovation
– Fundraising flows: MENA ↔ Canada
– What investors seek in AI & cross-border deals
– Product-market fit pitfalls & wins– Real-world scaling lessons
Join Our Slack Community
The Viaka Network’s Slack workspace is a free, open forum for anyone interested in tech, startups, venture capital, and the MENA region. Join our #general-public channel to connect, collaborate, and stay updated on upcoming events.
Welcoming Two New Members to the Viaka Angel Network
Community Partner Feature: An angel's guide to investing in AI
This edition features Zest Equity, the leading digital infrastructure solutions platform for private market transactions in MENA.
As AI companies continue to raise capital at unprecedented levels, some investors are left wondering how they can get started. This guide will show you how to think about investing in AI, where to invest, and what you should do before writing your first check.
There’s a lot of promise around the impact that AI will have on the world. By changing how society works, plays, and engages with technology, investors are more sure than ever that there will also be massive economic reward by investing in this meaningful technology.
Data shows that 58% of global venture capital dollars went to AI and machine learning startups in Q1. In the MENA region, AI is the fastest-growing tech vertical for venture capital funding. The investor demand is real, but navigating the landscape of AI deals can be confusing to angels who want a seat at the table.
In this guide, we’ll walk through the key areas of AI investing and show angel investors how they can be involved.
Key areas for early-stage AI investing
Artificial intelligence touches a wide range of software, hardware, and data. It’s an ecosystem of interconnected layers, each one being critical to the social and economic success of the industry. As an investor, you can think of AI companies as categorized into three groups: foundation models, infrastructure, and applications.
Each layer presents different types of investment opportunities, risk profiles, and business models.
→ Continue reading the full piece on Zest's website.
Recapping Our Latest Roundtable: Health Tech Innovation in MENA & Beyond
We brought together investors and founders from across the global MENA health tech ecosystem to explore how AI, regulation, and market dynamics are shaping the sector, and where the biggest opportunities lie.
A special thanks to our sponsors Flatiron Data & AI (Sami Yabroudi) and Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP (Abe Wehbi) for making this event possible.
Thank you to our amazing panel:
• Ayman Sharaiha – Co-Founder & COO, Altibbi
• Lana Ghanem – Managing Director, Hikma Ventures
• Saif AlJaibeji – CEO, Starup Insurance
• Ayah Hamdan – Head of health at Plug and Play Ventures
Plug and Play Tech Center
Behind the Deal: Our Latest Investments in BOND and Vessel
It’s only been a couple of months since we announced our first investment through the Viaka Angel Network. And this time, we’re coming with not one, but two incredible startups we’re proud to back. Meet Chloe Samaha and Rene Sultan from BOND, and Thierry Ajaltouni and Thomas Terrats from Vessel. With BOND and Vessel, we’re adding two very different — but equally ambitious — plays to our portfolio, setting the tone for the kind of MENA-aligned ventures we’re backing with conviction.
So, why did we back BOND?
This story once again shows the power of Viaka and its community. About a year and a half ago, long-time supporter and network member Fadi Boulos, founder of Supportful, introduced us to Chloe. At the time, she was in her final year at Babson and working on the first iteration of BOND, a talent management platform that would eventually pivot into something entirely new. Even then, her sharpness stood out.
We made a few intros to support her, but left it there. Fast forward a few months, and Chloe — now joined by Rene — had been accepted into Y Combinator, where they started building a new BOND: an AI productivity company behind Donna, an enterprise-ready AI Chief of Staff designed to collapse management layers and supercharge operational velocity.
Our co-founder, Hani Azzam, attended YC’s Demo Day in San Francisco, caught up with Chloe, met Rene, and was blown away by their progress. What impressed us most was Chloe’s relentless customer obsession. She was constantly speaking with Chiefs of Staff to refine Donna.
With $25K in MRR from 10 pilot customers, a waitlist of over 1,000 companies (including executives from Google), and backing from YC and leading funds, BOND was showing strong early validation.
Within weeks, we closed an oversubscribed allocation into BOND through our angel network. We also helped Chloe onboard additional angels she had sourced herself — giving them the chance to participate by joining our SPV, simplifying the investment process, and ensuring she could bring the right people around the table.
We couldn’t be prouder to back Chloe and Rene as they build a new category of intelligent internal operations infrastructure for modern companies.
Equally exciting was Vessel.
We met Thierry Ajaltouni through our investment associate Layss Majed. Both are McGill alumni, though they never overlapped there. A professor in Layss’ Venture Capital class suggested they connect — both Lebanese, both raised in Dubai, and both entrepreneurial. When the Viaka Angel Network launched, Layss reached out to Thierry, and the connection deepened when they discovered they had even gone to the same high school.
Thierry shared that he had just closed a $7.5M seed round led by Inovia Capital (one of Canada’s largest VCs), alongside MENA-based funds like BY Venture Partners. He and Thomas Terrats were building Vessel: a vertically integrated platform that powers the GP–LP experience by centralizing investor relations and fundraising workflows. The result is a tool that helps funds streamline operations, enhance the LP experience, and raise capital more efficiently.
What impressed us most was the team’s founder–market fit. Between experience at top-tier fund-of-funds (Teralys Capital), consulting firms (Oliver Wyman), and VCs (Inovia Capital), they deeply understood the pain points of private markets — a space often overlooked — and were on a mission to modernize it. Their credibility fueled real traction: customers turned into investors and advocates, helping drive nearly $500K ARR in less than a year.
We also knew Viaka could add value. Before even signing a term sheet, we introduced Thierry to more than 10 potential customers. Recognizing the benefit of having the Viaka Angel Network as a strategic partner, Thierry extended the seed round to bring us on board.
In just two weeks, we ran diligence, hosted a pitch to our angels, collected commitments, signed, and wired. This deal proved how quickly we can move when we have conviction and we’re excited to back a team modernizing the very ecosystem we operate in.
Join Us on the Journey
At Viaka, we’re on a mission to back the best MENA and diaspora founders. With three investments under our belt in just five months, we’re just getting started, one deal at a time. Exciting companies are already in our pipeline, from SF to NYC, Toronto, London and Dubai, and we’re quietly working on many initiatives behind the scenes.
If you know Chiefs of Staff or VCs/PEs looking to modernize GP–LP workflows, we’d love to introduce them to BOND and Vessel. If you’re interested in joining our angel network and accessing world-class dealflow, or if you’re building something bold, reach out. We welcome any conversation, and this is exactly how Viaka thrives. By prioritizing meaningful connections that create lasting impact.
*Written by Layss Majed, Investment Associate at Viaka.
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