Abu Dhabi’s Chimera Capital closes second venture capital fund at $10 bln

Abu Dhabi investment firm Chimera Capital said on Tuesday it closed its second venture capital (VC) fund at $10 billion, as it looks to find multi-million dollar opportunities in “growth-stage” companies.

The new fund, Alpha Wave Ventures II, will focus on the financial tech, artificial intelligence, life sciences, consumer internet and business to business sectors. Chimera said. The $10 billion fund is co-managed with U.S. alternative asset manager Alpha Wave Global, formerly known as Falcon Edge Capital.

“Put them together, and you have a large fund that can basically invest on a larger scale in basically growth stories,” said Karim Radwan, Chimera Capital’s chief investment officer.

Limited partners in the VC fund are all local and regional investors, Radwan said, declining to name them. He said the fund will invest between tens of millions and up to $100 million in growth-stage companies, typically between series A and pre-initial public offering (IPO).

Chimera Capital is owned by Chimera Investments LLC, which is part of Royal Group, an Abu Dhabi investment firm chaired by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser and a brother of its de facto ruler, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.

Its first fund, Chimera Global Fund I, closed in October at $75 million with participation from Mubadala Capital, a unit of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company. Chimera Investments seeded the fund with $25 million.

Its investments include U.S. education tech company Course Hero, Egyptian transport tech firm Swvl and Indian fintech firm Zeta.

Alpha Wave Ventures II will aim for a return between three and five times, with companies lower in that range the closer they are to an initial public offering, Radwan said.

“So, kind of risk-adjusted. So obviously the earlier companies have a higher return, but they have obviously, associated with it, a higher risk.”