G42 sets up $10 billion fund for tech investments

The entity will be formed in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, which was set up by state-controlled ADQ last year

Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence firm G42, which counts Mubadala Investment Co and Silver Lake as its backers, is setting up a $10 billion fund with a focus on tech investments in emerging markets.

The entity will be formed in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, which was set up by state-controlled ADQ last year. Both G42 and ADQ are part of a business empire overseen by United Arab Emirates national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed.

The new fund will be managed by a unit of G42 and target late-stage growth companies with disruptive technologies. It will operate as a private equity investor, with a significant share of funds earmarked for high-growth regions, in sectors ranging from communications, intelligent mobility and renewables to healthcare.

The move comes as Abu Dhabi — a city that’s among the few globally to manage over $1 trillion in sovereign wealth capital — ratchets up efforts to plow oil revenue into the technology sector and diversify its economy.

Sheikh Tahnoon, a brother of the UAE’s president, has been at the forefront of many of these investments. His interests range from Royal Group to wealth fund ADQ, and both entities recently committed money to a new fund set up by SoftBank Group’s Rajeev Misra.

Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, a partner in the latest venture, invests primarily in private equity and venture capital. Led by Khalifa Al Suwaidi — who was a chief investment officer at ADQ — the fund has a ‘unique risk profile that complements the existing Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds,’ according to its website.

G42, an AI and cloud computing company, has operations spanning from energy to healthcare and autonomous vehicles. Last year, the firm formed a joint venture with Beijing-based Sinopharm, marking the first overseas manufacturing of the Chinese vaccine.

It also became the first Emirati firm to open an Israel office after the nations normalized ties and rolled out the Middle East’s earliest driverless car trials. Over the past year, G42 has been building out its investment team with key hires from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds.