Samer Abdin
Venture Partner
Proptech &
Product / Technology
Dubai, UAE
Samer has 20+ years of experience in tech startups, product development, digital media, consulting, and finance in MENA, Europe, and Asia. He was previously GM of Dubizzle Property, a tech startup Founder and CEO, and a Chief Product Officer. Samer supports our investment activity in PropTech and our startups in the areas of Product and Technology.
Samer is currently the Chief Growth Officer of Zension Technologies, a subscription e-commerce company for consumer tech.
He was previously the Chief Product Officer of StarzPlay Arabia, the leading premium OTT service in the Middle East. Samer was responsible for setting the product vision, prioritizing product and technical work, aligning the needs of users with the needs of the business, working closely with the CEO to maximize user engagement and revenues.
Prior to this, he was the General Manager of Dubizzle Property, a role held for 3 years. Dubizzle is the largest online classifieds portal in the MENA region. Samer had the responsibility of running all aspects of the Property portal including deciding on and setting direction for P/L, commercial, product, and marketing arms of the vertical.
Prior to Dubizzle, Samer was the co-founder & CEO of Istikana, a web-based SVOD platform offering premium Arab TV and film programming. Started in 2011, Istikana was a leading independent Arabic streaming VOD service. As CEO Samer, led the team, drove business and product development, and raised multiple rounds of VC financing.
Prior to co-founding Istikana, Samer worked for 4 years as a strategy and early growth consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) based in Dubai, serving clients throughout the MENA region. He worked on several private and public projects within the telco, media, and financial services sectors.
Samer started his career in the late 1990s as a trader of financial derivatives, a role he had for 6 years trading in London, Hong Kong, and Paris.
In 2007 Samer completed an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management. Prior to this, Samer earned his Bachelor of Science in Astrophysics from University College London (UCL).