Venture studio · Cairo · Building across MENA

We turn
research into
ventures.

Our researchers in residence build the deep technology. We back them in taking it across the region.

600Engineers taught to date
4,000 m²Our Cairo campus
6Ventures, plus two labs
4Programmes funded
A panel at Cairo Blockchain Week, funded and organised by Mercatura Forum
Cairo Blockchain Week · funded and organised by Mercatura Forum
Distributed systems and computeAI Lab Cross-chain executionMechanical engineering and robotics Formal verificationPost-quantum cryptography

What we work on.

Six ventures.
Two labs. One studio.

01 — Portfolio

Our researchers in residence built them. Deep technology takes time and it takes resources, which is why so much of it never leaves the lab. We back young researchers and universities long enough to develop what they start, then back them again in taking it across the region.

Infrastructure

Thebes Protocol

Full stack on chain: frontend and backend both served from signed chain state, replicated across every node. Every block carries post-quantum signatures. Two threshold curves for cross-chain signing. Finality in roughly 200 milliseconds, deterministic, with no probabilistic confirmations. It runs Rust and Motoko smart contracts on our own byzantine-fault-tolerant consensus. More than three hundred contracts deployed to date.

Live · 300+ contracts deployed to date · visit →
Infrastructure · Dubai

Menese Protocol

A multi-chain operating system. More than fifty chains, non-custodial by construction, and an open framework for global payments. The key is never assembled anywhere. Not on a server, not in a browser, not by us. The research behind it runs to fully homomorphic encryption and a two-of-two tool that keeps custody with the user.

Live · Dubai based · visit →
Financial

MercX

Tokenisation and exchange for regulated assets, built for the regulator in the room rather than around them.

Pre-launch
Financial

Qorza

Corporate management on chain. People, payroll, performance and hiring, with role-based access and records a company cannot quietly rewrite.

In production, going public
Financial

BridgeFi

Invoice factoring, settled on chain.

Pre-launch
AI and models

enGen3

IP generation and governance. Who made it, who owns it, and what may be done with it, recorded where it cannot be disputed. Founded by Jordan Bayne.

Beta launch
AI and models

Mercatura AI Lab

Our own lab, working in two directions. One is code: the Motoko V13 coder turns a description into a smart contract that compiles, deploys and runs, and small models are fine-tuned for one narrow task at a time. The other is geometry: 3D and volumetric models, and the assembly verification that proves a design holds together before anything is built. Boosta AI, built on the coder, is close to launch.

Lab, in production
Physical

Mercatura Forum Robotics Lab

Autonomous vehicles that cross boundaries, on the water and in the sky. Designed, simulated and built here, from CAD through assembly to inspection. Deep technology you can hold.

Lab, research programmes
Studio

The88&Co

Brand and go-to-market for the portfolio, and The88 Film Lab, funded with Goldfinch and signed at El Gouna. Free courses. Funded production. The art we support carries the same weight as the engineering.

Operating

The ecosystem
we foster.

02 — We bring people together
WCHL
Funded

WCHL

Egypt's first global hackathon league, run to a national demo day at the Financial Regulatory Authority, 2025. MercX won it.

ICP Hub Egypt
Funded · grant and research

ICP Hub Egypt

How the builders arrive. We paid to create it. Live since 2025.

Cairo Blockchain Week, Dar El-Darb
Funded and organised

Cairo Blockchain Week

Dar El-Darb, 2024.

Connecta AI Factory, Cairo ICT
Funded · space co-organised

Connecta AI Factory

The Connecta space at Cairo ICT, 2026.

A gathering inside the Mercatura Forum campus, Cairo
The campus

4,000 m²
in Cairo.

Digital infrastructure and labs. A place to build, in Cairo.

600 engineers taught, from lecture hall to production.

A place to build.

03 — Hosted at our campus

Research sessions, demo evenings and gatherings hosted at our campus, and the industry weeks we fund across Cairo.

A session in progress at the Mercatura Forum campus
A gathering filling the campus hall
Builders working through a problem together
A working session on the campus floor
A talk in the main hall
Engineers between sessions
The campus interior
Horus underwater variant, pressure-balanced subassembly, CAD inspection
Cairo Blockchain Week, Dar El-Darb
A panel at Cairo Blockchain Week
Cairo Blockchain Week in session
The floor at Cairo Blockchain Week

Partners.

03

Partners

  • Goldfinch, United KingdomThe88 Film Lab is funded by Mercatura Forum with Goldfinch, signed at El Gouna in 2025 and implemented by The88&Co. Free courses. Funded production.
  • Financial Regulatory AuthorityOfficial Sandbox partner, under a signed memorandum.

Institutions we work with

  • Egyptian universitiesCollaborations. We work with research groups, fund graduation projects, run summer internships, and put Thebes deployment credit into students' hands.

What we grow

  • the ForumOur open-source contribution initiative.
  • ICP Hub EgyptHow the builders arrive. We funded it.

We do not rent the future. We build it.