Mubadala, the MENA region’s most significant financial group and lender, seems to be directing its focus inwards from backing up of the European tech funds to committing $15 billion in investment giant Softbank’s Vision Fund 1. As officially and the final announcement made in by Mubadala Capital, the financial investment arm of the Mubadala Development company, that it will release out tech funds worth $250 million for being invested across the MENA region.
The Abu Dhabi backed investment firm, having backed tech funds globally, is in pursuit of forming a complete MENA-focussed tech fund for its first time-and it signifies the growing up the relevance of entrepreneurship in the region’s economy.
In the meanwhile, the investment firm also added that $150 million worth of investments would be directed entirely to fund out the firms that support or utilizes Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 for their regional expansion and as their base. As part of this, Mubadala also stated that it would commit to the first ally in the form of San Francisco-based Data Collective Venture Capital (DCVC), Middle East Ventures Partners (MEVP) and Global Ventures.
The firm also added that the remaining $100 million would directly be invested into early-stage technology start-ups that target either the enterprise or the consumer-based sectors primarily. Mubadala also added that the funds would be spent within 15 such firms.
Its 1st investment has been into Bayzat, a start-up that helps automate HR and time administration, payroll process, and insurance. Mubadala, however, failed to specify the number invested into the startup, however, stated that the corporate raised a net worth of $16 million during a Series B spherical from each regional and international investors together with Mubadala Capital and Point72 Ventures. Bayzat that has raised overall funding of $31 million, stated that it’d use the money to reinforce its technology and client expertise.
“There’s an enormous quantity of untapped potential within the UAE and therefore the wider region and that we are on the proper path to foster a lot of home-grown innovations, attract exceptional talent and accelerate the evolution of a flourishing tech industry within the Emirate,” stated Ibrahim Ajami, Head of Ventures at Mubadala Capital. Mubadala’s move to take a position within the UAE’s economy comes when a decade of its finances globally and being exposed to tech corporations like Uber, Slack, and WeWork, among others, through the SoftBank fund.
In the U.S, the corporate manages Mubadala Ventures Fund one, a $400 million US-focused early-stage venture fund, and a fund of funds program targeting US-based established and rising managers. In Europe, the team manages a $400 million fund finance in founders and firms across the continent, yet as a fund of funds program – almost like that within the North American nation.
