New e-scooter venture Fenix gains $3.8mn seed funding from Israeli VCs

Fenix, a new UAE-based micro-mobility venture which operates e-scooters for city-wide commute has secured a $3.8 million seed funding led by Israel-based venture fund Maniv Mobility.

Founded by former Circ Co-founders and colleagues at Careem, Jaideep Dhanoa and IQ Sayed, Fenix will primarily focus its operations in the Middle Eastern market.

The investment is first-of-its-kind from an Israeli venture capital fund in a UAE-based tech startup since the normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE. The capital infusion also happens to be the largest pre-launch venture funding round in the history of the UAE tech ecosystem.

In its statement to the media, Jaideep Dhanoa, Co-Founder and CEO of Fenix remarked that “We hope this investment is just the start of a cross-pollination of talent, capital and innovation between the nations that can only be an accelerant in the development of a true middle-eastern tech ecosystem that will greatly benefit the region and its people at large.”

Fenix will begin its operations in Abu Dhabi with further expansion planned all across the UAE and then to the rest of GCC with a goal to become the ‘first pan-GCC operator’ by 2022.

“Maniv Mobility sees huge potential in the GCC region as a new market for micro-mobility and we were incredibly impressed by the team at Fenix and their drive to change the mobility future across the region. At Maniv Mobility, we eat, breathe and sleep mobility, so we are able to support the team as they bring their service to market and rapidly expand across the Middle East,” Maniv Mobility founder and managing partner, Michael Granoff, said.

Fenix is introducing the world’s first micro-mobility vehicle with an integrated hand sanitization pack.

All vehicles will also undergo a deep sanitization while being recharged, before being re-deployed in the city.