Sami Beydoun

Sami Beydoun is a veteran financier who spent the majority of his career with major U.S. investment banks before turning to venture capital in Lebanon. Public records and Berytech's own materials indicate he held positions across Merrill Lynch, EF Hutton, Shearson American Express, and Lehman Brothers, including senior roles in market-making and custody/operations during the 1970s–1990s. This capital-markets pedigree underpins his focus on financial analysis, portfolio construction, and corporate governance within the fund.

Beydoun is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Berytech Fund I, launched in 2008 as one of Lebanon's pioneering venture funds. Fund I built a portfolio of 15 technology ventures with ticket sizes ranging from roughly $100,000 to $1.2 million, and it became notable for delivering both a cash dividend to investors (reported at 14.4%) and three successful exits — an important proof point for the then-nascent Lebanese startup ecosystem.

With the launch of the larger, $50M+ Berytech Fund II, Beydoun took on the role of Vice Chairman and led on corporate governance. Fund II was structured to comply with Banque du Liban's Intermediate Circular 331, which provided a 75% investment guarantee to participating Lebanese banks and financial institutions — a mechanism that channeled bank capital into innovative Lebanese enterprises. At the fund's launch, Beydoun emphasized continuity from Fund I, stating: "We remain strongly confident in the Lebanese knowledge economy, building on our 6 years experience with Berytech Fund I, where we have witnessed continuous growth in demand for funding and support from entrepreneurs."

Berytech Fund sits within the broader Berytech ecosystem, an incubator/accelerator and support network for Lebanese entrepreneurs founded in association with Saint Joseph University (USJ). Beydoun's work therefore blends institutional VC discipline with ecosystem-building for early-stage founders in a challenging macroeconomic environment.

• Backs the Lebanese "knowledge economy": ICT, digital content, product/industrial and fashion design, and renewable energy — companies with "strong human value-added."
• Stage: Early-stage — seed and Series A — with Fund II data showing roughly 8 seed investments (avg. round ~$1.34M), 4 Series A (avg. ~$3.67M), and at least one later round.
• Check size: Historically small tickets ($100K–$1.2M in Fund I) scaling up to ~$1M–$5M in Fund II.
• What makes them say yes: High growth potential, technology-driven business models, and — importantly — the ability to scale beyond Lebanon into regional and international markets.
• Structured, exit-minded capital: Beydoun frames a good outcome flexibly — "such exit…could be through a merger, acquisition, management buyout, or a commercial sale" — signaling comfort with multiple liquidity paths rather than only IPO/large acquisition.
• Institutional rigor: As a former investment banker leading governance, he brings financial-analysis and portfolio-management discipline to founder relationships.