InstaDeep and BioNTech: Lessons for Tunisian Tech

In January 2023, BioNTech agreed to buy InstaDeep, an AI company founded in Tunis in 2014, for up to £562 million (about $680 million). It is still the largest exit by an African-born tech startup. InstaDeep is not a fintech, but its story says a lot about how Tunisian tech companies can build value, raise money and sell.

From two laptops to a BioNTech deal

InstaDeep was founded in Tunis in 2014 by Karim Beguir, a former financial engineer at JPMorgan and Bank of America, and Zohra Slim, a self-taught technologist. Beguir has described the start as "two laptops, $2,000, and a lot of enthusiasm," as he told TechCrunch.

The early years matter for founders today:

• No outside capital until 2018. The company was bootstrapped.
• Research brought in clients. Beguir's published AI research brought specialised clients to InstaDeep, and some of them, including Google and BioNTech, later became partners or investors.
• An early move to London. InstaDeep moved its headquarters to London in 2015, according to Rest of World, while keeping a large team in Tunis.

The funding path

• 2019 Series A: $8.5 million at a reported $30 million valuation, led by AfricInvest with Endeavor Catalyst and AI angels. It was AfricInvest's first AI investment.
• 2019–2020: a partnership with BioNTech, followed by a joint AI innovation lab in 2020 to work on cancer and infectious-disease medicines.
• January 2022 Series B: $100 million, led by Alpha Intelligence Capital and CDIB, with Google and BioNTech taking part. That was more than 12 times the size of the previous priced round.

By the time of the acquisition, InstaDeep had about 240 staff, according to TechCrunch, with offices in Tunis, London, Lagos, Dubai, Berlin, Cape Town, Paris, Boston and San Francisco.

The BioNTech acquisition: the numbers

BioNTech announced the deal on 10 January 2023:

• Up to £562 million in total for the shares it did not already own.
• About £362 million paid in cash and BioNTech shares.
• Up to £200 million in further payments tied to performance milestones.

The deal closed on 31 July 2023. BioNTech put the total consideration at about €500 million and said around 290 InstaDeep employees were joining the group. InstaDeep became BioNTech's London-based AI subsidiary. It kept serving outside clients and makes tools such as DeepChain (protein design) and DeepPCB. Beguir remained CEO.

AfricInvest's Khaled Ben Jilani told TechCrunch the firm estimated a conservative return of more than 10 times its investment.

Is InstaDeep Tunisian?

The question came up in Tunisia during the 2022 Series B. On Express FM, quoted by Webdo, Beguir said the company was founded by two Tunisian engineers and has an office in Tunis, even though its head office is in London. The two answers are not contradictory. InstaDeep was started and largely built in Tunisia, and it is legally a UK company. For founders, the point is that where the company is incorporated and where it does its work can be in different countries.

Lessons for Tunisian tech and fintech founders

1. Build with Tunisian talent, sell to the world

Beguir told Rest of World that InstaDeep moved toward US and European clients because few local customers wanted its products, while Tunisian universities made the country "a great place to hire deep tech and software talent." Tunisian fintechs face a similar choice: the local market is small and regulated, while the talent pool is strong.

2. Credibility can come from published work

InstaDeep's published research brought it clients and partners. A B2B fintech can build credibility the same way, through technical work and well-known clients.

3. A strategic partner can become the buyer

BioNTech was a client, then a partner, then a Series B investor, then the acquirer. For fintechs, that partner is often a bank, a payments network or an international software vendor. The Expensya deal followed a similar logic (see Expensya and Medius).

4. Structure is part of the strategy

A UK headquarters made it easier to raise from foreign investors and to sell to a German listed company. Tunisian FX rules and the limited reach of local capital still push many founders to set up a holding abroad (see how to raise funding).

5. One exit does not make an ecosystem

Excluding InstaDeep, Tunisian startups raised only about $17 million in 2022, according to Partech figures cited by TechCrunch. They raised $39 million in 2025 (AVCA), and disclosed deals nearly stopped in early 2026 (see funding trends). InstaDeep did not change the size of the Tunisian market.

The spillover

Some of the money and experience is coming back. Beguir invested as an angel in Thunder Code, the AI startup launched in 2025 by Expensya's founders. InstaDeep has also supported events such as Deep Learning Indaba and AI Hack. In a 2024 interview reported by Al-Monitor, Beguir predicted "10 InstaDeeps in 10 years" if Africa channels its talent into high-level innovation, and cited limits on researchers' movement across the continent as an obstacle. Tunisia's tech talent, and its continued emigration (see brain drain), will decide whether that happens.