Southeast Asian venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures has hit the first close of its $100-million debut Middle East and North Africa (MENA) fund.
It secured $20 million from anchor investors, Al Khor Holding and Al Attiya Group, both Qatari family-controlled conglomerates with businesses in areas like real estate, manufacturing and brands, as well as Sheikh Jassim Bin Jabor Al Thani.
The MENA fund will be established and headquartered in Qatar, making Golden Gate Ventures the first international VC fund to do so in the Gulf state. As part of its shift, Golden Gate Ventures partner Michael Lints has relocated to Qatar to oversee this expansion.
Last December, Golden Gate Ventures opened an office in Saudi Arabia, appointing Abdulrahman Al-Qahtani as General Partner to support its MENA expansion.
“My move to Doha in January this year solidified my enthusiasm for the region and I am looking forward to working with our investors, peers and founders…Our history in Southeast Asia allows us to enable cross-border investments, provide M&A opportunities and collaborations between portfolio companies in Asia and MENA,” Lints wrote in a LinkedIn post.
The new MENA fund will focus on sectors like alternative energy, green technology, B2B, Artificial Intelligence, and energy-related deep tech – areas that will complement Qatar’s strengths in LNG and alternative energy. It will also look into sectors like fintech, healthtech and edtech, furthering Qatar’s economic diversification agenda.
“The launch of Golden Gate Ventures in Qatar represents a notable progression towards diversifying the venture capital sector. Golden Gate Ventures’ expansion into the region, marked by the establishment of their headquarters in Qatar, is poised to nurture a thriving business environment, accelerate entrepreneurship and foster growth within Qatar’s startup ecosystem,” said Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Financial Centre in a statement.
Golden Gate Ventures’s pivot to the Middle East comes as the region’s oil-rich sovereigns have been luring more venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs to set up shop in the region. While Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been more prominently focusing on beefing up their respective tech ecosystems, Qatar has more recently entered the fray.
Earlier this year, Qatar announced the Startup Qatar Investment Program, powered by the Qatar Development Bank (QDB), which focuses on early-stage investing, providing $500,000 to startups in the seed stage and up to $5 million in the growth stage. In February, Qatar Investment Authority also announced that it would set aside $1 billion to invest in international and regional VC funds.