Qatar and Bahrain private equity and venture capital (PE & VC) market map

We compiled an extensive Qatar and Bahrain private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) market map that shows key Qatar and Bahrain investors and investment funds. We hope this is useful for your startup fundraising. Find below the list of investors from the market map and links to their websites.

Qatar’s local startup scene is its infancy phase compared to its neighbor and rival Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Local startup and venture capital industry are mostly driven by government initiatives trying to diversify Doha’s economy away from petrochemicals. Gas-rich nation’s state-owned Qatar Foundation aims to create a local startup ecosystem. Qatar Development Bank also acts as a Fund of Funds by offering $30 million to venture capital and angel investment firms including Iris Capital, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, 212, IDG Capital, AfricInvest, and Romulus Fund. Individual angel investors were dominant as the country had been limiting foreign ownership. However, after Saudi-led bloc imposed a boycott on the emirate, Qatar passed a law allowing foreigners to own up to 100 percent of the capital. Juggernaut sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority is the country’s main investor both domestically and globally with $320 billion assets under management. The fund is moving its focus from traditional fields such as real estate and blue-chip banks towards technology giants and startups.

Bahrain isn’t as famous as Dubai as an investor centre of Middle East nor isn’t large as Saudi Arabia, but it is unofficially ranked 3rd as an investment powerhouse of Middle East. Investcorp HQ (on of the most prominent MENA and global investors founded in 1982) is located in Manama. Being able to diversify its economy Bahrain is focused on growing FinTech (check out Bahrain Fintech Bay), SaaS and other digital-related startups. A government supported organisation, Tamkeen, was launched in 2006 to support SME startups with financing. Bahrain also houses Venture Capital Bank one of the leading Islamic VC/Angel investors helping early stage companies from GCC, Northern Africa to develop offering seed funding and consulting. And it is not surprising that Bahrain has higher GDP growth than UAE and KSA.

The funds present on the market maps are:

• ​Milaha
• Qatar First Investment Bank
• Qatar Investment Authority (QIA)
• Al Zayani Investments
• Arcapita​
• ASMA Capital Partners BSC
• GrowthGate Capital Corporation​
• Gulf Finance House
• Gulf One Investment Bank BSC​
• Investcorp
• Tuareg Capital ​
• Venture Capital Bank

For more information on investment funds (their investment criteria, funds sizes, region preferences and etc.) in Qatar and Bahrain go to Qatar PE/VC funds database and Bahrain PE/VC funds database on privateequitylist.com

If you are raising capital, we would love to hear about you and help you find the right investors! If you want to be featured on our website as a startup looking for investments or if you want to add a PE/VC to this list, please email at privateequitylist@gmail.com.

We hope our platform will help you find the right investors for your startups!

Regards,

Private Equity List team