Five MENA Deep-Tech Startups Touch Down in Silicon Valley for Propeller's First-Ever Kernel Camp

Propeller, a venture capital firm focused on AI infrastructure with roots in the MENA region, has brought five deep‑tech founders from Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Egypt to Silicon Valley for the inaugural Kernel Camp, an eight‑week residency designed to embed them in the heart of the global AI ecosystem. The cohort — described by the firm as its most ambitious cross‑border bet — arrived for a programme of workshops, mentorship and direct exposure to engineers, operators and investors across the Bay Area. Kernel Camp was first announced in December 2025 as a core pillar of Propeller’s cross‑border strategy and will culminate in a demo day for the firm’s Bay Area community in May 2026.

Propeller leadership on the programme

“This is a milestone the firm had been working toward since the launch of Fund III. The founders are technically exceptional and the Silicon Valley environment is designed to push them to build faster, think bigger, and connect with networks that can meaningfully accelerate their trajectory,” said Zaid Farekh, Founder and Managing Partner at Propeller.

Cohort, offering and rationale

The five companies in the inaugural Kernel Camp cohort operate at the frontier of AI infrastructure, developer tooling and cybersecurity. Propeller says the residency is intended not merely as a Bay Area visit but as a genuine ecosystem insertion that gives curated access to the communities and conversations that matter at an early stage of company building.

• OORB (Tunisia) — building a cloud robotics workspace that lets developers build and test ROS projects directly in the browser.
• Eli by Techbible (Morocco) — an AI Stack Manager that gives companies full visibility into their SaaS and AI tool expenditure.
• Firstflow (Jordan) — providing an onboarding and analytics layer specifically designed for AI agents.
• Nexguards (Egypt) — offering a personalised cyber attack simulation and security awareness platform.
• Flowbrave (Morocco) — transforming static business processes into AI‑guided workflows through an intelligent operations platform.

The programme provides fully sponsored housing, curated workshops, weekly guest sessions, one‑on‑one office hours with world‑class builders, and site visits to leading technology companies and venture firms across the Bay Area. Propeller says it targets technically strong, demo‑ready founders working full‑time on companies that already show early signs of traction.

Community and next steps

“The goal is not just education but belonging — helping these founders become genuine participants in the Silicon Valley ecosystem rather than visitors to it,” said Propeller partner Hani Azzam, emphasising the residency’s community dimension.

The eight‑week residency builds toward a May 2026 demo day where founders will present to Propeller’s Bay Area network. Founders, operators, engineers and investors in the Bay Area who want to engage with the cohort can register interest at propellerinc.me/kernel-camp-partners-investors. For Propeller, Kernel Camp represents a tangible move to connect MENA technical talent with the dense networks of capital and expertise in Silicon Valley under the firm’s Fund III strategy.