Noor Sweid

Noor Sweid is the founder and Managing Partner of Global Ventures, a UAE-based, Series-A-focused venture capital firm with a presence in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria. Previously, Noor was the Chief Investment Officer at The Dubai Future Foundation and a Founding Partner at Leap Ventures. In April 2008, she led the IPO for Depa, becoming the first woman to operate, scale, and IPO a company in the MENA region, listing for $1.1 billion. During her tenure, she expanded Depa's operations from six to 22 countries, including four cross-border acquisitions.

Sweid also founded ZenYoga, the largest chain of yoga and pilates studios in the Middle East, acquired by Cedarbridge in 2014. Global Ventures, under her leadership, manages $300 million AUM and is recognized as a top decile fund. The firm has completed 60 investments and 5 exits across 10 markets, focusing on sectors such as FinTech, Digital Health, EdTech, and AgriTech. The portfolio companies have generated 11,100 jobs, powered financial inclusion for over 64 million people, and expanded healthcare access to over 6.8 million patients.

Apart from her operational and investment roles, Sweid is an active, independent board director of Clue, the largest femtech company in Europe. She is the Founding Chairwoman of the Middle East Venture Capital Association and a Director of the Global Private Capital Association, TechWadi, and the Karman Fellowship. Notably, Sweid is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders. Forbes has recognized her as one of the "World's Top 50 Women in Tech" and by Arabian Business as one of the "Most Influential Arabs." Sweid holds Bachelor's degrees in Finance and Economics from Boston College and an MBA from MIT Sloan.