Omar Darwazah

Omar is a Managing Director, General Partner, and CFO at AAF Management Ltd. (AAF), an early-stage venture capital firm he co-founded in 2016. Over the past 5 years, Omar has invested in over 120 venture-backed startups in the US, Europe, and MENA region across a multitude of different sectors alongside over 800 blue-chip venture capital firms, corporate venture arms as well as notable incubators and accelerators.

Omar has also deployed capital to 18 emerging managers globally. His fund performance is consistently ranked in the top decile in terms of DPI and TVPI respectively benchmarked on Cambridge Associates’ data on over 1500 US VC Funds.

Previously, Omar spent 10 years of his career with OCI N.V. in Cairo and New York focusing on investor relations, strategy, and corporate finance where he worked on over $35 billion worth of corporate transactions. Prior to that, Omar was with Deloitte Tax LLP in Chicago and Deutsche Bank’s Leveraged Finance team in London.

Omar also founded and successfully exited his own startup, Premier Foods SAE, which managed two gourmet fast food brands in Egypt. Omar previously advised Hikma Pharmaceuticals’ corporate venture arm Hikma Ventures on its digital healthcare investments

Omar is also an angel investor in over 20 tech companies including Andela, Blockstack, BitOasis, Dayra, Freterium, Halan, FiscalNote, Thndr, and Ziina. Omar sits on the Board of the Middle East Investor Relations Association (MEIRA) and the Middle East Venture Capital Association (MEVCA). He is also a mentor to the NYU Steinhardt EdTech Accelerator, an advisor to Yale University’s Center for Digital Health and Innovation, and a judge at the Wharton School’s Venture Lab.

In aggregate, Omar has over 16 years of international experience in corporate finance, corporate communications, management consulting, strategy, investor relations, and venture capital.

Omar is an avid traveler and has visited 87 countries around the world. He also has an interest in film production and has been an Executive Producer on several short feature films including Baby Mine (2017) and Lab Rat (2018).

Omar holds a BA in Economics and Political Science with Honors from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

He was named as one of Wharton’s 40 under 40 in 2017 and one of the Top 100 the University of Chicago Alumni in Tech in 2021.

Omar Darwazah is the Co-founder, Managing Director and General Partner at AAF Management Ltd., based in New York, New York, United States, North America. With a background in Information Technology, Omar Darwazah has a rich history of leadership and innovation. Omar Darwazah studied MBA Finance and Management @ The Wharton School. Explore their detailed professional journey, key connections, and contributions to the industry on our platform.