Oasis500 — MENA's First Seed Accelerator Scaling Jordanian Tech Startups

Oasis500 launched in Amman in 2010, backed by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development, as one of the first dedicated seed accelerators in the Middle East and North Africa. Over 15 years it has run four successive investment vehicles: Oasis Ventures I (2010), a creative-industries fund (2015), Oasis Ventures II (2019, co-invested with the sovereign Investment Support and Financing entity, ISSF) and Oasis Ventures III, a $20M+ fund for scalable early-stage tech companies.

The accelerator selects and seed-invests in early-stage Jordanian tech startups, then supports their growth through successive fund cycles rather than a single cohort-based programme.

Across its history, Oasis500 reports having invested in 193 startups that have gone on to raise more than $135 million in follow-on funding, reach a combined active portfolio valuation of roughly $243 million, and generate close to 5,000 direct and indirect jobs, with portfolio companies now operating in more than 22 countries. The ISSF-co-invested Oasis Ventures II sub-fund alone reports more granular figures: 36 portfolio companies, 300 direct and 1,000 indirect jobs, $27 million in external financing secured, and 36% of companies led by women founders.

Because the inclusiveness and job-quality breakdown is published only for the smaller ISSF sub-fund rather than the full 193-company portfolio, those figures should be read as indicative of one fund cycle rather than proven across the whole 15-year track record.