Ibrahim Ajami, head of ventures at Mubadala Capital, plans to leave the firm next year to launch Noha, a venture fund targeting $500 million, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
Mubadala Capital, the asset management arm of Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala, will provide a seed commitment of a few hundred million dollars toward that target, according to the report.
The move makes Ajami an independent fund manager, with his former employer as the anchor investor. He plans to pitch founders on access to capital, customers and computing power in the United Arab Emirates.
Fund focus
Noha plans to invest about 90% of its capital in early-stage AI startups in the United States. It will put the rest into startups in the UAE and other markets.
The report did not say where Noha will be based, who else will invest, who will join Ajami's team, or when the fund expects to close.
The reports carried no comment from Ajami or Mubadala and did not name a successor to lead Mubadala's ventures business.
Two decades at Mubadala
Ajami joined Mubadala in 2006. He is currently a senior partner and head of ventures at Mubadala Capital, where he oversees the firm's global ventures strategy in technology and healthcare from Abu Dhabi.
He launched Mubadala Capital's ventures platform in San Francisco in 2016, and the platform has since invested in more than 100 early- and growth-stage companies, including SpaceX, Waymo and Stripe, according to Dealroom.
Before he started the ventures business, Ajami built and led Mubadala's strategy in semiconductors and advanced technology. He was a founding member of chipmaker GlobalFoundries.
Ajami began his career at companies in Silicon Valley and at Occidental Petroleum in Abu Dhabi. He holds a bachelor's degree from Northeastern University and an MBA from the University of Southern California.
Mubadala's regional deals
Mubadala continues to back startups in the region. It led a $15 million Series A in CredibleX and co-led a $35 million pre-Series C round in Paymob. It is also an investor in the AI infrastructure company Together AI.
