Doha – Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) plans to invest in five new venture capital funds as part of the expansion of its $3 billion venture capital program, the sovereign wealth fund announced on Monday.
The new fund, called Greycroft, Ion Pacific, Liberty City Ventures, Shorooq and Speedinvest, will open an office in Doha in an effort to develop Qatar as a venture capital hub, it said in a statement.
The Fund of Funds initiative was announced in 2024 with the aim of attracting venture capital firms to Qatar, building a strong environment for entrepreneurs and helping the country diversify its economy away from fossil fuel revenues, as the country follows the wealthy path of other Gulf states.
Qatar’s prime minister announced on Sunday that the fund would be expanded to up to $3 billion.
“This year, we will move from momentum to scale,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at the opening of the Qatar edition of the Web Summit technology conference.
This expansion may also cover investments outside of Series A and B funding rounds.
“We are currently expanding the scope of conducting later rounds, so that may open up conversations with other managers,” Mohsin Pirzada, head of funds at QIA, said in an interview with Reuters.
“We’re going to continue to be very flexible and support them in the early stages, but there are enough capital pools in the country to pursue these opportunities,” he said, referring to the credit facility.
QIA manages $580 billion worth of assets, according to sovereign wealth fund tracker GlobalSWF, and late last year launched its own AI-focused company, Qai, betting on the fast-growing sector to drive economic diversification.
As part of the initiative, the country has launched a pilot computing credit program to provide free computing to Doha-based startups. This may also apply to managers participating in fund of funds schemes.
Pirzada said the pilot program is “a significant differentiator in terms of what our program offers compared to our regional peers.”
(Reporting by Andrew Mills; Writing by Federico Maccioni and Tala Ramadan; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Thomas Derpinghaus)
