CapQuest raises $1M pre-seed to run cap tables for MENA startups

DUBAI — CapQuest has raised $1 million in a pre-seed round co-led by Oraseya Capital and AMKM Family Office.

The Dubai startup runs a cap table and employee equity management platform, priced per stakeholder. Its customers span 11 countries and include Holo, erad and Avenia, themselves venture-backed companies with $22 million, $22 million and $17 million raised respectively.

The founding team brings scar tissue. Antoine Bruna and Marco Banfi previously co-founded restaurant-tech startup Repeat, which raised $12 million from 47 investors, a cap table wide enough to explain the product's existence. Anvita Varshney rounds out the founding team.

Equity management is a category the region has largely imported until now. As MENA cap tables grow more crowded with angel syndicates, employee option pools and cross-border investors, the case for a regional tool with local support strengthens. CapQuest is already preparing a separate $2 million seed round for commercial expansion, an unusually fast follow-on that suggests early traction or early ambition.

Watch whether the $2 million seed closes on the timeline implied, and whether CapQuest's per-stakeholder pricing holds as customer cap tables grow.

FWDStart first reported the round.