Chimera Capital, an Abu Dhabi investment firm, announced on Tuesday that it has closed its second venture capital (VC) fund with a valuation of $10 billion, as it seeks multi-million dollar opportunities in “growth-stage” businesses.
Alpha Wave Ventures II, the new fund, will focus on financial technology, artificial intelligence, life sciences, consumer internet, and business-to-business. Chimera remarked. The $10 billion fund is co-managed by Alpha Wave Global, formerly Falcon Edge Capital, a US alternative asset manager.
“You have a large fund that can basically invest on a greater scale in basically growth stories,” Karim Radwan, Chimera Capital’s chief investment officer, explained.
The VC fund’s limited partners are exclusively local and regional investors, according to Radwan, who declined to name them. He said the fund will invest in growth-stage companies worth tens of millions of dollars to $100 million, often between series A and pre-IPO (IPO).
Chimera Capital is owned by Chimera Investments LLC, which is part of Royal Group, an Abu Dhabi investment corporation managed by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser and a brother of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, the country’s de facto ruler.
Chimera Global Fund I, a $75 million fund with participation from Mubadala Capital, a unit of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company, closed in October. Chimera Investments put $25 million into the fund as an initial investment.
Course Hero, an education technology company based in the United States, Swvl, an Egyptian transportation technology company, and Zeta, an Indian fintech firm, are among its investments.
Alpha Wave Ventures II will aim for a return of three to five times, with companies closest to an IPO falling into the lower end of that spectrum, according to Radwan.
“As a result, it’s risk-adjusted. Obviously, the earlier companies have a better return, but they also have a bigger risk connected with them.”
