Erika Welch, Co-founder and Chief Content Officer, Lucidity Insights
In the fast-paced world of startups, where the Silicon Valley mantra “move fast, and break things,” coined by Facebook (now Meta), having the right data can make all the difference between success and failure. Lucidity Insights is putting that power of data directly into the hands of tech entrepreneurs across the Middle East and Africa. Co-founded in 2022 by a team of ex-strategy consultants, data scientists and publishers led by Erika Welch, a Stanford GSB alum with a love of data-driven story-telling — this edtech meets big-data startup is on a mission to give startups the intelligence they need to scale, fundraise, and dominate their industries.
The Entrepreneurial Knowledge Gap
During her time in California, working alongside the next generation of tech titans, Welch quickly recognized a common thread among successful founders. They possessed a sharp mix of intellect and credibility, were deeply connected, and had a strong grasp of entrepreneurial fundamentals. Beyond that, they shared intangible qualities—humility, courage, resilience, and a touch of luck.
But when she returned home to Dubai in 2018, she noticed a stark contrast. The region was brimming with talent, ambition, and drive—but it lacked one critical ingredient: entrepreneurial know-how. There was a clear knowledge gap when it came to building startups. Success often depended on being “in the know”—understanding how to start a business, secure funding, and forge strategic partnerships. Welch saw that the real divide wasn’t between the “haves” and “have-nots,” but between those who understood the startup game and those who didn’t. It was this missing know-how that kept many promising ventures from reaching their full potential.
Lucidity Insights sought to address that problem. The company was built to educate the masses of entrepreneurs and wannabe-entrepreneurs in the Middle East and Africa specifically, on how to hack their entrepreneurial journeys. They ensured that their content was accessible in multiple formats – from detailed special reports and case studies to engaging podcasts, short-form and long-form videos, and visually compelling infobytes.
“It was all about reimagining data-driven, educational storytelling, for every generation of entrepreneur,” says Welch.
Investor Matchmaking for Founders
But founders needed more than market data and insights to build their business plans and pitch decks; they also needed funding and an understanding of the fundraising landscape in the region. When startups began approaching Lucidity Insights asking for help in fundraising and investor matchmaking in 2023, Welch and her team saw an opportunity to help: build the most comprehensive database of institutional investors actively backing startups in the region – and do the leg-work to make access to capital easier for new startup founders.
The result? A two-year project that vetted over 750 institutional investors, breaking down their portfolios by sector, geography, check size, and growth stage. Now, founders can stop the ineffective “spray-and-pray” pitching approaches and can start targeting the right investors with laser precision instead.
“We realized this is exactly the data that startup founders need—to build out comprehensive pitch decks, cap tables and create strategic fundraising roadmaps,” says Welch. “At the end of the day, choosing your investors is the second most important decision a founder will ever make on the entrepreneurial journey; second only to choosing your co-founders.”
The Perfect Pitch and Investor Matchmaking
Lucidity Insights took it further when they launched The Perfect Pitch podcast in 2024, where the region’s most active VCs elaborate on what they really want from founders. Spoiler: “Founders who don’t do their research on investors” is their #1 pet peeve, along with “cold Linkedin outreach with no customization or personalization.”
Welch explains that the podcast validated why Lucidity Insights’ investor matchmaking tool is so essential. “It helps founders find the right fit instead of wasting time on dead-end pitches.”
The investor matchmaking tool has earned Lucidity Insights the moniker “the Tinder for Startup Founders and Investors”, precisely because their online matchmaking platform helps founders identify strategic investors while allowing startups to upload profiles, send pitch decks, and request meetings—all within the platform.
Democratizing Access to Data
Lucidity Insights’ goal is clear: democratize access to startup ecosystem data and insights to as many Emerging Market techpreneurs.
“When we say we’re committed to democratizing access, we truly mean it,” says Welch. “The majority of our products are completely free because we believe that valuable insights should be accessible to all entrepreneurs. For those seeking more advanced features, we charge only a small, nominal fee—roughly the price of a cup of coffee per month. Our goal is to genuinely support the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem in every way possible. By empowering founders today, we’re helping to build a stronger, more dynamic tech landscape—one that will ultimately sustain itself and create new opportunities, including future revenue streams.”
Up Next: AI and Angel Investing
The young company says 2025 is all about automation and building customized AI tools to integrate into its platform to refine data quality, bridge data gaps, and accelerate insights delivery. As Welch puts it: “Data is the new oil, and we’re still finding ways to refine it and produce it with greater efficiency.” And they are in good company, 80% of Fortune 500 companies are integrating AI into their business models, from automating operations to revolutionizing customer experiences. Nearly 30% of all venture capital investments in 2024 were also AI-related startups, highlighting just how prolific AI has become in the business world.
Meanwhile, they’ve just launched an Angel Investor platform, inviting angels to access premium deal flow of the most exciting new startups in the Middle East and Africa. Welch shared how critical it is for Lucidity Insights to expand beyond the 750+ venture capitalists and institutional investors they have on their platform to include Angel Investors in 2025. She said, “Roughly 2 in 10 startups get funded by institutional investors. The rest must rely on funding from angel investors, friends and family, or to grow the business by bootstrapping; and we’re here to help all startup founders, not just those that have successfully raised capital from venture capitalists.”
Lucidity Insights is currently offering a 1 year free access to active Angel Investors in the region for the Angel Investor Registration package, if you use the coupon code ANGEL100 at check-out. They aim to have 500 angel investors registered by year end.
“We’re excited about the roadmap we’ve set for 2025,” Welch said, “and the projects we are undertaking with corporate and government clients across the Middle East and Africa continue to inspire us to develop tools and resources that are built with our regional end-users in mind.”