Abu Dhabi's state holding company ADQ is partnering with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (Adio) to develop the emirate's start-up ecosystem and attract further investments into its digital economy.
ADQ will now be responsible for driving equity investments in early-stage companies and venture capital funds, while Adio will oversee the management of incentives and other forms of support, the two companies said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The combination of what ADQ and Adio can offer to early-stage start-ups is powerful and strategic,” Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, chief executive of ADQ, said. “We are both committed to nurturing the development of cutting-edge technologies and solutions to advance Abu Dhabi’s innovation ecosystem and augment Abu Dhabi’s position as a highly developed and progressive economy.”
The Dh535 million Ventures Fund, which invests in start-ups and VC funds, will also be transferred to ADQ to support the emirate’s evolving technology ecosystem.
The Ventures Fund has committed approximately Dh200m since its inception in May 2019 to more than 15 companies and funds in its portfolio. The fund was launched as part of the Dh50 billion Ghadan 21 initiative to stimulate the emirate's economy.
"With Adio and ADQ working together, innovative early-stage companies will now have new opportunities as well as access to the capital and networks they need to realise their ambitions in the emirate and internationally," Tariq Bin Hendi, director-general of Adio, said.
Abu Dhabi is investing in start-ups to grow the innovation ecosystem in the capital as part of a broader economic diversification strategy. Apart from the Ventures Fund, the government also set up Hub71, an international technology hub in cooperation with Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi Global Market, Microsoft and SoftBank last year.
Mubadala, the emirate's strategic investment fund, also set up a $250m (Dh918m) technology fund targeting investments in the Mena region last year. Its commitment comprises $100m that will be invested directly into early-stage technology ventures, targeting up to 15 companies, and a $150m "fund of funds" to invest into venture capital funds run by other managers.
ADQ also launched a Dh1.1bn venture fund in May to invest in early-stage Indian and Southeast Asian start-ups and help them set up a base in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City.
The Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) Fund, run by Falcon Edge Capital, will help budding Asian businesses gain market access to the UAE and the broader Middle East region. The new fund will be based at Abu Dhabi Global Market.
Set up in 2018, ADQ's portfolio of assets includes several large industrial and manufacturing companies in non-oil sectors such as transportation, metals and power, including Abu Dhabi Ports, Etihad Rail, Emirates Steel and Taqa. It also holds stakes in media businesses Abu Dhabi Media and TwoFour 54, insurer Daman, health services provider Seha and the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company.
“We welcome the Ventures Fund joining ADQ’s broader venture capital portfolio and will continue to drive new investments in exciting early-stage businesses pursuing new ideas and business models with the potential to make an impact in the UAE and beyond," Mr Alsuwaidi said.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Office, which oversees the foreign direct investment and private sector development in the emirate, has also invested $5m in a fund operated by Shorooq Partners, it said in June.
The Bedaya fund targets early-stage tech companies in the Middle East and North Africa region. The total size of the fund is $40m.
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The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
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By Tim Murphy
(Grove Press)
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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