Tunis – Sharikat Mubasher:  United Gulf Financial Services for Investment (UGFS-VC) announced the first closure of its New Era Fund I, securing €7 million (around $7.5 million) of its €15 million ($17 million) target.

Among the key backers is a €3.5 million commitment from the ANAVA Fund of Funds, a major public-private initiative supported by the World Bank, Germany’s development bank (KfW), and Tunisia’s Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC), according to a recent press release.

Launched to boost Tunisia’s growing innovation economy, New Era Fund I will back Series A tech startups across three key sectors: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and green technologies. UGFS-VC, which manages over 100 startup investments, is leading the fund and sees this milestone as a strong signal of growing institutional confidence in Tunisia’s early-stage tech sector.

ANAVA’s investment aligns with its broader mission to strengthen Tunisia’s startup ecosystem by catalyzing capital into local VC funds. With a target size of €100 million, ANAVA is Tunisia’s first euro-denominated fund of funds, operated by Smart Capital, the government-appointed operator of the national Startup Tunisia initiative.