In this essay, I examine the information network that Venetians established in Mamluk Egypt between the 15th and the early 16th centuries. The case study is based on two groups of commercial letters from Venetian agents, one from 1419 and the other from the early 1500s. Despite the eighty-year gap, common themes do emerge. Using the approach supported by the ‘New Diplomatic History,’ I argue that the daily interactions between the agents and members of the Egyptian network resemble an informal, second-level diplomacy between non-state actors. In fact, merchant and diplomatic networks often overlapped in practice; I illustrate this in the context of the 1503 mission of Venetian ambassador Benedetto Sanudo.