From entrepreneur to VC: the path of Rania Belkahia
Following the first European event dedicated to women in VC, we wanted to highlight women investors with diverse backgrounds, and more specifically women who made the transition from entrepreneur to VC. I am very happy to share with you this piece dedicated to Rania Belkahia’s journey from entrepreneur to partner at EQT Ventures.
Loreley Mac Donald: Tell me about the personal and professional journey that led you to your current position at EQT Ventures
Rania Belkahia: We usually say we ‘come from the trenches’. We have a team of people plucked from the start-up community: builders, founders and operators who have experienced firsthand the ups-and-downs of the entrepreneurial journey. As of two years ago, I work on the other side of the fence, as an investor for EQT Ventures, focused on the French market.
I have been in the founders’ shoes: I built and ran a leading e-commerce platform in West Africa for eight years. After studying engineering and entrepreneurship in France I founded my first venture; Afrimarket. It was back in 2013 when I was 23 years old.
Afrimarket was one of the leading e-commerce companies in Africa with integrated last-mile logistics. The company grew to become a market leader, operating in the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon, Mali and Benin. Afrimarket had around 300 employees and raised €30m with Orange, Xavier Niel and others investing.
The company closed in 2019, due to a failure to finance the last round. Having this background of building, running, scaling and closing a start-up is invaluable for a VC investor: I feel I can provide first-hand experience to our portfolio companies.
Loreley Mac Donald: Do you recall your fundraising experience during your time as an entrepreneur?
Rania Belkahia: The macro economics play a crucial role in this. When I was fundraising it was a very different climate than what we saw in 2021, or even today, for that matter. Raising money for an African venture was also something very different, as there is no regional VC ecosystem — especially not in the French-speaking subsaharian countries. Still, we managed to raise three rounds with European investors (Seed, Series A, Series B).
Loreley Mac Donald: After being an entrepreneur, many doors were open to you. What led you to VC, and specifically EQT Ventures?
Rania Belkahia: I wanted to be a part of building the type of VC I wished I had to support my business. After eight years of entrepreneurship, a rollercoaster ride from success to failure as my company went bankrupt, I simply wanted to use what I’d learned along the way. I want to support companies and people, helping them to avoid some of the pitfalls I came across, and to build amazing companies.
At EQT Ventures we work for our founders, not the other way round. We offer speed and scale through a new kind of ‘radical support’, meaning that we are very active supporters to the companies at all levels. We are entrepreneurs at heart and VCs by name. It makes a big difference in the relationship between entrepreneurs and investors.
In a way, we are still entrepreneurs ourselves, working to leverage tech to transform how VC is done. We have developed Motherbrain, our big data and machine learning platform. It helps us find the best startups to invest in, and creates competitive advantages that enable us to make faster and more substantiated decisions.
Also, it is about investing in companies and founders that we believe are plus one for the world, which makes all the difference in our dedication to making them successful.
Loreley Mac Donald: What were the most significant changes you witnessed from being an entrepreneur to a VC?
It is like switching seats in the cockpit: from being the pilot, to becoming the co-pilot. The perspective is different, even though you are on the same journey. We are there to challenge, support, and help companies scale in a successful way. This requires a different skillset but leverages the experiences learned from being in a CEO’s shoes.
Loreley Mac Donald: Do you miss some aspects of being an entrepreneur?
Rania Belkahia: Oh, lots actually! Maybe someday in the future I will jump back to being the pilot again! I love working with a strong team on a clear mission, gathering smart and talented people around a joint purpose — building amazing companies.
I do miss doing the firsthand tweaking, adapting, testing — always striving to improve, get better and move forward. Finding that famous product-market-fit, iterating and optimizing. It is fun!
Loreley Mac Donald: Could you tell us about your investment strategy and recent deals you made?
Rania Belkahia: We make big bets on the early stage companies we believe in. Companies we know from experience are going to be the next generation of winners. We look for the founders across Europe and in the US, tackling verticals with potential big enough to create global winners.
EQT Ventures has a team with a diverse range of backgrounds. We’ve got entrepreneurs from the B2B software world, food tech and everything in between. We are sector agnostic and, given our diverse backgrounds, we have experience from many industries.
Among the recent deals, we have:
● Luko: we led their Series B (€50m — Jan 2021). Luko is reinventing home insurance for renters and homeowners alike, placing social responsibility at its core
● Verkor: we led their Series B (€100m — July 2021). Verkor is an EV battery manufacturer whose sole ambition is to design and produce the next generation of low carbon batteries to accelerate Southern Europe electrification.
● Depict: we co-led their Series A (€15m — December 2021). Depict is an e-commerce enabler reinventing product recommendations.
Loreley Mac Donald: What have been the biggest challenges you have encountered from going from founder to VC? What resources would you have wished to have?
Rania Belkahia: There is a difference in the mindset, that is for sure. It is about creating your own profile in the VC space, carving out your position in the market. You can still keep your entrepreneurial heart, even in VC — but just adapt yourself to the surroundings.
Loreley Mac Donald: What are the challenges ahead?
Rania Belkahia: The global economy is facing headwinds: companies and VCs are navigating this new situation. Despite this, the VC space is not in hibernation. We are still on the lookout for great founders. Some of the best performing start-ups of the best decade were created in downturns. The big challenge for entrepreneurs is to go from a growth-only mindset to a more sustainable growth mindset.
Loreley Mac Donald: With the WVC:E coming up, let’s talk about gender parity within the ecosystem. When comparing the startup ecosystem to the VC ecosystem, do you see more progress on the parity issues on one side of the ecosystem?
Rania Belkahia: It is a balancing act. To truly dismantle industry barriers, we need to work on the entire ecosystem. The startup community of founders, leaders, and board members still remains predominantly male. The lack of diversity on the investment side leads to disparities with a direct impact on funding and support. We need to see a more diverse pool of founders — and more diverse investment teams.
Loreley Mac Donald: At EQT Ventures, how do you promote gender parity within your team and on the investment front? What more do you want to do?
Rania Belkahia: Despite years of efforts to increase the number of women, there is generally a massive gap in the investment teams, which ultimately reflects in the distribution of capital. So I am very proud to be a part of a team where we have a 50/50 split among partners and the same goes for our overall investment team. Now, things will not change overnight, but we all have to do what we can to make progress here — as it will benefit the ecosystem and society as a whole.
