Startup Tunisia
National initiative built on Tunisia's Startup Act, with startup labelling, a venture fund of funds and support programmes such as AIR; operated by Smart Capital.
Industry: National startup support programme | Location: Tunis, Tunisia | Founded: 2018
About Startup Tunisia
Startup Tunisia is Tunisia's national initiative to support startups, entrepreneurs and investors. Its website describes the aim as making Tunisia a startup country at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa region, and Africa. It rests on three pillars: the Startup Act, Startup Ecosystem and Startup Invest. The site carries the branding Startup Tunisia by Smart Capital, and its contact address is in Tunis.
The Startup Act is the legal base. Law No. 2018-20 of 17 April 2018 on startups, with Decree No. 2018-840 of 11 October 2018, sets out 20 measures built around a Label of Merit. The label is granted by the College of Startups. A February 2022 interview posted on the site says the labelling programme began in April 2019. By February 2022 the former College had granted 448 labels and 285 pre-labels from 1,262 files, and a new College led by Zoubeir Tourki held its first session in April 2022. The site announced a label and pre-label application session for October 2025.
Smart Capital, a management company approved by Tunisia's Conseil du Marché Financier, is described on the site as the national operator of Startup Tunisia. Under Startup Invest it runs a fund of funds that the site says can reach 200 million euros and invest in at least 13 venture capital funds. In March 2022 the site reported a first close of 40 million euros.
Startup Ecosystem includes Flywheel, a fund for the organisations that support startups. Its AIR instrument gives a grant of TND 30,000 to startups under one year old to build a proof of concept, paid 67 percent on contract signature and 33 percent after results are validated. AIR2 offers TND 200,000 to seed-stage startups preparing a Series A. DEAL offers up to TND 200,000 to launch support programmes. Greentech Tunisie runs VAIR and MAIR.
In September 2026 TechScoop reported that Startup Tunisia selected 22 companies for the eighth AIR session, each receiving TND 30,000, about TND 660,000 in total. TechScoop also reported that Startup Tunisia runs Flywheel with the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.