Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital is among six venture capital firms that plan to set up offices in Doha, as Qatar intensifies efforts to catch up with peers who’ve attracted global financial companies.
The Qatar Investment Authority will invest in B Capital — started by Facebook co-founder Saverin and former Bain Capital investor Raj Ganguly — through its fund-of-funds program, according to a statement. The tech-focused vehicle has over $7 billion under management, and has backed machine-learning startup DataRobot, cryptocurrency brokerage FalconX and customer analytics software firm Pendo.
Deerfield Management, a healthcare-focused investment company with about $15 billion in assets, is also set to draw funding from the QIA, which launched a $1 billion program last year to develop the venture capital ecosystem and support local startups. Details on the size of the investment weren’t immediately available.
The fund has already backed four other firms, including London-based Utopia Capital Management, as part of this initiative. All of them will open offices or their Middle Eastern headquarters in Qatar.
Qatar’s regional peers, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have also been leveraging investments by their sovereign entities to attract global firms to their financial centers.
In recent years, several high-profile hedge funds have established offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, transforming the UAE into an emerging hub for the industry. Similarly, Saudi Arabia has attracted regional headquarters of several Wall Street firms after it introduced policies that made such a presence mandatory for certain government contracts.
Besides Qatar, Kuwait has also started wooing foreign firms. BlackRock is exploring plans to open an office in the country, Bloomberg News has reported.
The $510 billion QIA is likely to grow significantly in the coming years, driven by an expansion of Qatar’s gas output. Its new Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed Al Sowaidi, brings extensive experience in the U.S., which is expected to help the fund navigate the dynamics of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Over the past five years, the QIA has increased its U.S. investments, partly to re-balance its portfolio away from Europe. It has invested in sectors such as technology and healthcare and plans further deployments in Asia and the U.S., focusing on sectors including digitization and infrastructure.
