SHUAA Capital, asset management and investment banking platform, launched SHUAA Venture Partners, a $250 million Shari’ah fund, focused on venture debt investments.  

“SHUAA Venture Partners will provide alternative capital solutions to high growth companies across the GCC. We aim to support the growth of businesses, create jobs, lead further developments in innovation and technology, support economic diversification and guide founders towards realizing their vision. Our investors have the opportunity to diversify into a new asset class in technology, with a shorter investment horizon, frequent distributions and attractive financial returns,” Natasha Hannoun, Head of Debt at SHUAA Capital, said.

The fund is one of the largest venture debt funds in the GCC and has been established to support the growth of regional technology and technology-enabled leaders that are seeking alternative sources of funding without significantly diluting their shareholding. The strategy was developed sharing the vision of the GCC’s regional goals of economic diversification and growth of the new economy. 

SHUAA has $545 million deployed in private debt transactions and $3 billion structured across multiple sectors over the last 11 years including technology. Most recently, it made a $50 million investment in Pure Harvest and the PIPE funding for Anghami, which became the first Arab tech company to list on NASDAQ in New York, last month.