Dubai Silicon Oasis to launch its first VC fund

Dubai Silicon Oasis, the integrated free zone technology park, will be launching its first Venture Capital (VC) fund early next year to help start-up IT companies in the Mena region, a senior official of Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority has said.

“The VC fund will be an angel funding that would include Dubai Silicon Oasis [DSO] as well as other regional and international investors in the fund. This is the first time that a real VC fund is established by DSO,“ Ray Milhem, Chief Technology Officer, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, Dubai, told Emirates 24|7.

He said the VC fund would focus on IT companies in the two main regions -- Mena and Europe and North America for now.

“Later, we’ll look east to India, South Korea, Taiwan and other countries in Asia,” he added.

However, he said further details like the size of the fund’s seed capital would be announced later.
 
DSO has also launched its first technology incubator, which would be the first step for IT start-ups to qualify for VC funding, he said.

“DSO will incubate start-up IT companies that are part of the incubator by coaching and supporting them, and by helping in their business plans and networking with different companies. We’ll own a certain percentage in them and then if they succeed after a year, we’ll move them to the next stage where the VC fund would invest in them.”

He said all these initiatives are part of DSO’s long-term vision of building a high-tech ecosystem that includes working with large companies and start-ups, building a venture capital fund, working with universities, working with the government of Dubai and other governments in the UAE, and lastly, having a physical infrastructure.

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