Presight–Shorooq $100M AI Fund invests in five AI startups across the US and UAE, bridging frontier innovation with MENA’s sovereign infrastructure ecosystem.
The Presight–Shorooq Fund I, a $100 million global AI innovation vehicle, has deployed capital to five AI startups in its first quarter of operations, signaling an aggressive start to its investment mandate.
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Launched in September 2025 as a strategic partnership between Shorooq and Presight — a subsidiary of G42 — the fund targets high-conviction AI opportunities across the U.S., UAE, and broader global markets.
The fund’s first five portfolio companies include Nodeshift, Candid, Hebbia, Blue, and Crunched.
The startups are led by alumni from DeepMind, Google X, Meta, and Stanford, reflecting the fund’s focus on technically strong founding teams building AI-native products.
According to the fund managers, the initial cohort represents a cross-section of what they describe as “frontier intelligence” — spanning agentic reasoning systems, physical AI applications, sovereign cloud infrastructure, and vertical AI platforms.
Across these deals, the fund co-invested alongside leading global venture firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, GV, Quiet Capital, First Round Capital, and Y Combinator.
Angel investors backing portfolio companies include AI researcher Yann LeCun, startup mentor Paul Graham, and investor Peter Thiel.
Dr. Bilal Baloch, Partner at Shorooq and lead on the fund, said the early investments reflect the vehicle’s original vision. “When we launched this fund, our vision was to connect world-class AI innovators with the capital, regulatory support, and market access that our region offers,” Baloch said.
He added that the team assessed more than 1,000 companies globally before making five investments within 120 days. “We were most impressed that these founders are pushing the boundaries of what AI can do, from giving every app a voice interface to automating billion-dollar industries, allowing us to back various theses across the AI stack. This is just the beginning.”
Magzhan Kenesbai, Chief Growth Officer at Presight, emphasized implementation as a core theme. “AI only creates lasting value when it operates within real systems. These investments reflect that conviction, spanning secure AI infrastructure, vertical intelligence platforms for capital and industry, and edge-native systems,” Kenesbai said.
“Through this fund, we are creating clear pathways from innovation to implementation, translating frontier AI into intelligent systems at scale.”
Why Presight–Shorooq AI Fund Matters for MENA
The Middle East and North Africa are positioning themselves as a serious AI hub, backed by sovereign capital, regulatory agility, and national AI strategies, particularly in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
By investing globally while anchoring implementation pathways within the UAE, the Presight–Shorooq Fund signals a strategic shift: MENA is no longer just importing technology; it is actively shaping AI infrastructure and commercialization pipelines.
The fund also strengthens cross-border AI flows between the U.S., Asia, and the Gulf, positioning the UAE as a bridge between frontier research and real-world deployment.
If early momentum is sustained, the vehicle could serve as a model for how sovereign-backed capital in emerging markets competes for and scales global AI innovation, not just regionally, but at the frontier of the industry.
