Suggestions
Kyane Kassiri
VP @rallycapglobal - also writing small checks via SuyaVC
Kyane Kassiri is a venture capitalist and angel investor with extensive experience in the startup ecosystem, particularly focused on emerging markets. He is currently a Partner at Rally Cap VC, an early-stage emerging market fintech fund investing in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.1
Prior to his current role, Kassiri founded Suya Ventures in 2021, where he invested in numerous startups across various sectors, including fintech, healthtech, and e-commerce. His Suya portfolio included 21 companies, primarily based in Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, and other emerging markets.1
Kassiri's career in venture capital began in 2018, where he worked with several VC firms over a 3-year period to develop his investing style and learn about investments across different fund sizes.1 Before entering the VC world, he was an entrepreneur himself, having attempted to build two startups between 2015 and 2018.1
As an angel investor from 2019 to 2022, Kassiri backed 14 startups across various sectors and geographies, demonstrating his commitment to supporting early-stage companies.1 His investment philosophy appears to focus on fintech and other technology-enabled businesses in emerging markets.
Kassiri is known for his founder-friendly approach and his goal of fostering a more connected technology ecosystem in Africa.4 He is active on social media, particularly LinkedIn and Twitter, where he shares insights about venture capital and startup ecosystems.123
Highlights
Lovely how Johan Bosini [Partner at Quona Capital] switched roles mid-interview and started shooting LP questions.
Shout-out to the RC community who truly form the cornerstone of our firm.
Special thanks to the day-0-OGs like Daniel Shi, Mark Heynen, Babajide Duroshola, Nik Milanović, Joshua Gordon-Blake as well as some of RC's loving embassadors (can't name them all, but at least sending love to) Alex Talati, David van Dijk, Dan Kleinbaum, Chloe Zhu, CFA, Lino Gill, Anais Cisneros, Uzayr Jeenah, Tingting Peng, Hector Bartlett, Chijioke Dozie, Mumbi Annstella, Olusegun Olukoya, Elisabeth Green, Yoann Copreaux, Ayodeji Okunlola, Carlos Castellanos, CFA, Przemek Praszczalek, Joshua Bivins, Kamil Mouhid, Wiza Jalakasi and soooo many more
We've been running SPVs for specific co-investment opportunities, which exceeded our expectations with most SPVs being oversubscribed within 3 days.
Here's why I think it's working:
Many syndicates out there have some clearly misaligned incentives. The organizer puts $1k-$5k of their own money and pools $100k-$500k from their network.
At Rally Cap, we often offer co-investment opportunities into deals where we're putting 80% of the funds from our own pocket.
In simple words: there's no incentive for us to 'sell you' a not-so-high conviction deal given how much skin we have in the game.
If you write $25k+ angel tickets and are interested in getting access to our SPVs, shoot me a message 👋🏼
