Group 42, the Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company, is launching a $10 billion fund that will invest in emerging technology in high-growth regions around the globe as it aims to expand its investment portfolio .
G42, which counts Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Company and Silver Lake among its shareholders, is creating the new investment vehicle in partnership with the government-owned Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, G42 said in a statement on Thursday.
The G42 Expansion Fund, which will be managed by a G42 subsidiary, will focus on accelerating the pace of global innovation by investing in late-stage growth companies with disruptive technologies and strong business fundamentals.
“With the G42 Expansion Fund, we aim to accelerate our global impact not only through capital deployment, but also by providing unique access to our networks, management and operational assets to our portfolio companies,” Peng Xiao, G42 chief executive officer . said.
The new fund will operate as a private equity investor, with a significant portion of investments earmarked for high-growth regions.
“In addition to providing investment support, the G42 will leverage its operational assets and ecosystem of operating companies to accelerate value creation across the G42 Expansion Fund’s investment portfolio,” the company said.
The fund’s investment priorities will cover technologies that have the potential to “shape the global economic landscape in the coming decades.”
It will invest in all sectors, including IT and communication technologies, smart mobility, clean technology and renewables, digital infrastructures, new materials, multiverse, FinTech, healthcare and life sciences.
“G42’s journey to date has been marked by success stories across a wide range of industries, addressing the most complex challenges facing our customers,” said Xiao, who is also chairman of the Growth Fund.
“With the foundation built by our operating businesses and the support of our strategic partner ADG, the next era of G42 will be marked by our ability to power new ventures around the world.”
The new fund will help G42 accelerate its global impact as the company is keen to engage with entrepreneurs who share its core values and growth ambitions.
“We are excited to partner with ADG to further cement Abu Dhabi as a global hub for innovation and progress,” said Mr Xiao.
G42, which owns and operates the world’s 26th most powerful supercomputer, is conducting high-level basic and applied research in AI, as well as developing cloud computing for the most demanding use cases.
In November 2020, Mubadala became an investor in G42 by integrating its Injazat and Khazna data centers into the company. Last year, the Abu Dhabi company also secured a “significant” investment from US-based private equity manager Silver Lake, whose managing partner and co-chief executive Egon Durban joined the G42 board as part of the deal .
“As a growth-focused investor, we are very pleased to have a technology investment partner in the G42 that possesses deep knowledge of emerging technologies combined with operational requirements for global growth and value creation,” Khalifa Al Suwaidi, chief executive of the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund. , said.
The fund is an “excellent fit with our investment strategy,” he added.
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G42’s portfolio of companies includes G42 Healthcare, G42 Smart Nation, open data portal Bayanat, G42 Cloud, Injazat, Khazna, Presight, among others.
Earlier this month, G42 Healthcare joined forces with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to develop genomics, proteomics and biobanking services.
G42’s healthcare subsidiary owns Biogenix Labs, the first large-scale, large-scale Covid-19 laboratory in the UAE. He also organized the 4Humanity clinical trials, the world’s first Phase 3 trial of a vaccine to fight the coronavirus, with more than 43,000 volunteers taking part.
G42 also teamed up with Beijing-based Sinopharm in March 2021 to set up Hayat Biotech, a joint venture that manufactures Covid-19 vaccines in the United Arab Emirates.
Last year, Mubadala partnered with G42 to set up a biopharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Abu Dhabi to leverage global vaccines and therapeutics.
In June this year, UAE’s largest telecom operator e& and G42 merged their data center services under Khazna Data Centers to meet the growing digital infrastructure demands in the region. With the consolidation, Khazna now operates 12 data centers, making it the largest data center provider in the Middle East and North Africa.
Updated: August 18, 2022, 08:55