Mark Cuban invests in Morocco’s tech sector as ties with Israel restored

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U.S. billionaire Mark Cuban is making moves to invest in Morocco’s emerging fintech and hi-tech sectors after the country restored bilateral relations with Israel in December 2020 in exchange for U.S. recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara.  

Morocco’s latest diplomatic move to strengthen ties with Israel is expected to attract significant foreign investment into the country from the United States, its allies, and Israel, Morocco World News reported. 

The country’s tech sector is largely underserved as 71 percent of its 36.7 million population are financially excluded and unbanked, according to Global Finance. Despite these challenges, the banking sector rates are among the highest in North Africa, with assets exceeding 130 percent of the GDP.

Therefore, Cuban’s decision to invest in Moroccan fintech comes at a critical time for the country’s economy and could trigger a substantial growth in the tech sector and a rise of technopreneurs in the country.  

Currently, the American seems to be the only renowned investor making a bold move to test the waters of Morocco’s tech economy. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that many other wealthy foreign investors are also looking to tap into the Moroccan tech sector. 

Cuban is an entrepreneur, television personality, media proprietor and investor, with an estimated net worth of $4.3 billion. As of 2020, he ranked 177th on the Forbes 400 list.  He made his initial fortune from the sale of Broadcast.com to Yahoo! for $5.7 billion. He later purchased the Dallas Mavericks. Cuban is an owner of Magnolia Pictures, the VIP transport airline, MLW Air, and the TV channel, AXS TV.