Qatari sovereign fund to invest $1b in international, regional VCs

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Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund and the world’s tenth-largest, has launched a US$1 billion venture capital fund of funds program. QIA will invest the money in international and regional VC funds.

The program aims to attract international VC funds and entrepreneurs to both Qatar and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, which also includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. In turn, QIA hopes to grow a local and regional base of VCs and entrepreneurs.

In a statement, QIA CEO Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud said that “there is currently no dedicated pool of capital in Qatar for companies that are past seed funding and are ready for series A to series C funding rounds.”

The sovereign wealth fund said it will focus on the fintech, edtech, and healthcare sectors. The program will primarily only invest in VC funds, but it is open to co-investing directly into companies.

To demonstrate their commitment, fund managers looking to raise money from QIA may be required to establish an operational footprint in Qatar, set up a senior-level presence in the country, or expand across the GCC.

After missing the initial boom, Middle Eastern funds have ramped up their investments in Southeast Asia over the past two years. According to Refinitiv data, Gulf-based funds participated in 59 deals in Southeast Asia from 2022 to 2023, up from just seven deals in 2018 to 2019.

QIA in particular has co-led a US$150 million funding round in One Championship. It has also backed Malaysian used-car unicorn Carsome.

See also: Middle Eastern investors fill vacuum left by SoftBank in SEA venture scene