- May 22, 2023
EPISODE #
#53 Kareem Elsirafy explains the venture builder model
About this episode
Kareem Elsirafy is the Managing Partner at Modus Capital, a venture builder with offices in Cairo, Abu Dhabi and soon in Riyadh. Kareem emigrated to the US from Egypt as a toddler, grew up in a challenging environment and joined the US Marine Corps to get some discipline. 4 years later he found himself in a homeless shelter trying to integrate back into society. He eventually worked his way out of homelessness into Columbia University and ultimately co-founding Unite Us, a startup that supports military servicemen, veterans and their families. Unite Us is valued at over $1.5Bn.
Kareem made his way back to the region to help founders build companies from the ground up. An inspiring and candid conversation with so many nuggets for entrepreneurs.
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A link to Find your Larry, the story we referred to in the podcast: https://modus.vc/find-your-larry/
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guest profile
Kareem Elsirafy
Kareem Elsirafy is a seasoned entrepreneur and investor with extensive strategic and operating experience in early-stage tech.
Kareem is a United States Marine Corps veteran and holds multiple degrees from Columbia University including BAs in Political Science, Economics and Middle Eastern Studies, and an Executive MBA in Technology Management from Columbia as well.
Most recently, Kareem held executive roles at various NYC based companies providing strategic advisory and execution for various public institutions including U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Departments of State, in addition to notable private corporations such as Google, MetLife, IMG, Ally Bank, Pepsi, and Citibank.
In 2011, Kareem co-founded and built Uniteus.com, a network care coordination SaaS platform that initially helped military veterans transition to civilian life and expanded to the entire U.S. Health and Human Services industry raising over $195.3m in total capital at a $1.65bn valuation. Kareem also founded M1 Marketing Firm in 2007 which exited for 22x in 2009.
In his current role, Kareem serves as the managing partner at Modus Capital changing the narrative on how to empower entrepreneurs in the start-up ecosystem while driving positive returns for investors and social impact initiatives.