The Presight–Shorooq Fund I, a $100 million strategic partnership between Presight (a G42 company) and Shorooq, has announced its first major milestone. Since its September 2025 launch, the fund has successfully deployed capital into five frontier AI companies across the UAE and the United States. This rapid execution—vetting over 1,000 startups in 120 days—underscores the fund’s role as a vital bridge between global “frontier intelligence” and the MENA region’s sovereign infrastructure.
A High-Conviction Portfolio of Frontier AI
The initial cohort represents a strategic cross-section of the AI stack. These ventures are founded by elite alumni from DeepMind, Google X, Meta, and Stanford. The fund’s mandate focuses on “AI-native” products with defensible data advantages and infrastructure control. By backing these founders, the fund aims to translate cutting-edge research into intelligent systems capable of operating within complex, regulated environments.
The First Five: Bridging Infrastructure and Vertical Intelligence
The portfolio companies span sovereign cloud, agentic reasoning, and vertical AI for high-stakes industries:
- NodeShift (Abu Dhabi): A Rust-based sovereign AI cloud platform designed to replace fragmented legacy infrastructure with a “true air-gap” system for high-security clients.
- Candid (San Francisco): A vertical AI agent for the construction industry that reduces pre-construction bidding time by 10x while drastically tightening error margins.
- Hebbia (New York): An enterprise-grade AI platform featuring “Matrix.” A collaborative agent capable of performing citation-backed, end-to-end analysis on millions of pages of private data.
- Blue (San Francisco): A Voice/Edge AI startup developing an “Action Model”. For mobile that bypasses APIs to control app interfaces directly via a secure hardware-software synergy.
- Crunched (San Francisco): An AI-powered Excel analyst tailored for investment finance and consulting, boosting spreadsheet productivity by over 2x.
Strategic Global Partnerships
The fund operates alongside the world’s most prestigious venture capital firms and angel investors. This collaborative approach ensures that portfolio companies have access to global best practices and massive distribution networks. Notable co-investors include:
- Venture Firms: Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Index Ventures, Google Ventures (GV), First Round Capital, Quiet Capital, and Y Combinator.
- Angel Icons: Yann LeCun (Meta Chief AI Scientist), Paul Graham (Y Combinator co-founder), and Peter Thiel (Founders Fund).
A Conduit for Sovereign AI Implementation
Magzhan Kenesbai, Chief Growth Officer of Presight, emphasized that AI creates lasting value only when integrated into real-world systems. The fund provides a clear pathway for these global innovators to access the UAE’s premier sovereign infrastructure and regulatory support. By positioning Abu Dhabi as a hub for “East-West” AI collaboration, the fund is accelerating breakthroughs that transform both billion-dollar industries and localized community services.
Future Outlook: Accelerating the AI Stack
As the fund moves into its second quarter, the focus remains on secure AI infrastructure and edge-native systems. Dr. Bilal Baloch, Partner at Shorooq, noted that this initial deployment is “just the beginning.” The fund will continue to target founders who are pushing the boundaries of AI. From giving every application a voice interface to automating the world’s most complex knowledge work in finance and law.