The Group 42 fund will operate as a private equity investor and will target high-growth markets.
Group 42, the Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company, announced plans for the launch of a USD 10 billion fund to invest in emerging technology in high-growth regions across the globe as it looks to expand its portfolio of investments. The G42 Expansion Fund will be created in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund. Group 42 counts Mubadala and Silver Lake as shareholders.
Group 42: Fueling global innovation
The fund will focus on accelerating global innovation by focusing on late-stage growth companies promoting disruptive technology. The fund will operate as a private equity investor, with a significant share of investment earmarked for high growth regions.
“With the G42 Expansion Fund, we aim to accelerate our global impact not only through the deployment of capital, but also by providing unique access to our networks, management, and operational assets to our portfolio companies,” Peng Xiao, G42’s chief executive, said.
According to Xiao, the fund’s investment priorities will cover technologies that have the potential “to shape the global economic landscape in the next decades” and investments will be made across various sectors including computing and communications technologies, intelligent mobility, clean technology and renewables, digital infrastructures, new materials, multiverses, fintech, health care and life sciences.
Tech-based footing
G42, which owns the world’s 26th-most powerful supercomputer, carries out high-level fundamental and applied research into AI as well as developing cloud computing.
In late 2020, Mubadala integrated its Injazat and Khazna Data Centres into G42, thereby becoming an investor. In 2021, G42 received a significant investment from US-based private equity manager Silver Lake.
G42’s portfolio of companies includes G42 Healthcare, G42 Smart Nation, open data portal Bayanat, G42 Cloud, Injazat, Khazna, Presight and more.
Vaccines and biotech
Earlier this month, G42 Healthcare announced an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to jointly develop genomics, proteomics and biobanking services. G42’s health care subsidiary owns Biogenix Labs, the UAE’s first large-scale, throughput Covid-19 laboratory. It also arranged the 4Humanity clinical trials, the world’s first Phase 3 trial for a vaccine to fight against the coronavirus, with more than 43,000 volunteers taking part. G42 is also working with Beijing-based Sinopharm to set up Hayat Biotech, a joint venture that makes Covid-19 vaccines in the UAE.
Last year, Mubadala partnered with G42 to set up a biopharmaceutical manufacturing project in Abu Dhabi, to leverage global vaccine and therapeutic products.
Data centers
In June this year, UAE telco e& and G42 merged their data center services under Khazna Data Centres in order to serve the increasing digital infrastructure requirements in the MENA region. Khazna now operates 12 data centers and is the largest data center provider in the MENA region.
Despite a slowdown in July, MENA startups have so far raised USD 1.8 billion in 2022.
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