Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), has announced a new initiative to invest over $1 billion in venture capital funds that focus on the region’s emerging start-up ecosystem.
The initiative, called the venture capital “Fund of Funds”, was launched by Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the Qatar Web Summit, the first Middle East edition of one of the world’s largest tech conferences.
The Fund of Funds will not only seek to generate market level returns for QIA, but also to develop Qatar’s venture capital sector and attract international investors and entrepreneurs to the country and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
QIA’s Chief Executive Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud said in a statement that the Fund of Funds will help innovative businesses access capital and support from venture capital funds, enabling them to scale up and expand their market presence in Qatar, across the GCC, and ultimately onto the international stage.
QIA, which has a portfolio of over $300 billion, has been increasing its investments in technology in recent years, backing companies such as Uber, Flipkart, and Xiaomi. The Fund of Funds is part of QIA’s strategy to diversify its assets and support Qatar’s economic diversification and innovation agenda.