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Nabil Alnoor Borhanu is a Saudi Arabian statesman, venture capitalist, and entrepreneur. He relocated to America in 2013 and is the founder and managing director of venture capital firm, Graphene Ventures.

Early life and education

Nabil Borhanu was born in Saudi Arabia. Borhanu holds an Executive MBA from Al Yamamah University (2009–2011), MBA from Hochschule Furtwangen University (2010–2012), and International Marketing Washington State University (2011–2012), and later attended the SEP program in Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2019.

Career

In 2002 Nabil Borhanu joined a startup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as employee number three where he wore multiple hats and his performance got him promoted to Projects Manager and later to Executive Manager within 18 months. He later turned the company from a loss to a profit. In 2005, he joined Arabic Computer Systems as a Telecom and Large Accounts Sales Director, the most significant ICT company in the Middle East. By 2007, he was promoted to General Manager, and he started Future Communications Guidance International (FCGI) as a Joint Venture between ACS and Future Communications Company International (FCCI), then a Kuwaiti publicly listed company on the Kuwait Exchange. In 2009, he planted seeds to start Sport Experts Group later and won the first HD production for the Saudi Professional League (SPL). Managing three companies simultaneously, he grew this business to over SAR 300M ($80M), achieving profitability. He then resigned as conflicts rose among shareholders. From 2009 to 2011, he was appointed as an adviser at the Royal Court.

He relocated to the US in 2013. By 2015, Borhanu founded Graphene Ventures, a venture capital fund specializing in early-stage startups and, occasionally, late-stage private technology companies. Ventures manages assets of $300M (1.1 Billion SAR) across a diverse portfolio of more than 50 firms -including ones exited. Notably, Graphene Ventures was an early backer of major NYSE-listed firms such as Snap, Inc. and Lyft, Inc.

Nabil assisted companies in their expansion to the Middle East by consulting and establishing joint ventures in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. He added Snapchat's Middle East strategy, which saw the MENA office's revenue grow to $10M within a year.

He is a board member for several companies collectively valued at over $5.3B USD, outside his role in Graphene Ventures, he serves as the chairman of the board at Coat Zone, a company he acquired a super-majority stake in 2019 and holds board memberships at Alraedah and Tap Payments. He serves as chairman of the board of Senhasegura. Wakecap. He was recently appointed chairman of the board and Group Managing Director for MARSS Group.

References

1. "KUNA: Saudi King adopts royal decrees reshuffling senior-level posts". www.kuna.net.kw. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
2. "Nabil Borhanu". graphenevc.com. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
3. ^ Wesam (2023-01-16). "Nabil Alnoor Borhanu". Alraedah Finance. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
4. Handbook, Entrepreneurship (2022-06-09). "#32. From Crashing To Zero To Investing $100m In Snap and Lyft w/ Nabil Borhanu". Medium. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
5. "Retailo Raises $36M million in Landmark Series A Round For Empowering Community Commerce in MENA Region". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
6. MGZN, Startup (2019-04-25). "SAGIA launches a new initiative to attract global venture capital firms – Startup MGZN". Retrieved 2024-06-25.
7. Third Annual Gulf Studies Forum 3–5 December 2016
8. jhaxell (2022-08-12). "Brazil-based RegTech senhasegura bags $13m". FinTech Global. Retrieved 2024-06-25.

• 21st-century Saudi Arabian politicians
• Living people