The Abu Dhabi-based Presight-Shorooq Fund I, a $100 million initiative focused on global AI innovation, has completed its first investment cycle, deploying capital into five promising AI start-ups operating in the U.S. and UAE markets. This move underscores the growing commitment of the UAE to becoming a central hub for artificial intelligence development and deployment.
Strategic Investments in Key AI Sectors
The fund’s portfolio companies represent a diverse range of applications within the AI space, including:
- NodeShift: A sovereign cloud platform built to offer secure and cost-effective GPU workloads, potentially reducing costs by up to 65% compared to public cloud services. This addresses a critical need for data sovereignty and high-performance computing in sensitive industries.
- Candid: An AI agent designed to drastically reduce the time required for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) bidding, cutting preparation time from 12 weeks to as little as 1-2 weeks. This efficiency gain could unlock significant revenue potential for EPC firms.
- Blue: A voice AI company developing an action model capable of hands-free command execution across mobile applications via a proprietary USB-C hardware dongle. This innovation bypasses traditional app limitations by directly simulating user input.
- Hebbia: An enterprise-grade AI platform handling complex knowledge work in sectors like finance, law, and government, leveraging a collaborative AI agent capable of ingesting and analyzing massive datasets with citation-backed verification. This tool could streamline operations in heavily regulated industries.
- Crunched: An AI-powered Excel analyst for finance and consulting professionals, designed to identify errors in complex financial models and automate data analysis, reportedly boosting productivity by over 2x. This addresses a common pain point for financial analysts working with large datasets.
Regional and Global Backing
These start-ups have attracted support from prominent venture capital firms including Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Google Ventures, and Y Combinator. The investments also include backing from angel investors like Yann LeCun, Paul Graham, and Peter Thiel. This diverse mix of investors underscores the broad appeal and potential of these AI ventures.
Expanding the AI Ecosystem in the UAE
The Presight-Shorooq Fund I is a partnership between Abu Dhabi investment firm Shorooq and Presight, a subsidiary of the G42 Group. The fund’s deployment builds upon the success of Presight’s AI-Startup Accelerator, which supports early-stage AI start-ups across MENA, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. This accelerator provides mentorship, high-performance computing resources, and access to foundational language models to help start-ups refine their business models and achieve market fit.
The fund’s approach not only provides capital but also integrates promising AI companies into the UAE’s premier sovereign infrastructure and broader MENA capital ecosystem.
The combination of financial backing, infrastructure access, and regional expertise positions the UAE as a competitive force in the rapidly evolving global AI landscape. The Presight-Shorooq Fund I extends this support by providing capital alongside infrastructure access, accelerating the development and implementation of frontier AI technologies at scale.
The initiative demonstrates a clear strategy to connect global innovation with regional resources, fostering a thriving AI ecosystem in the UAE and beyond.
