Founded in 2017, Shorooq was one of the first venture funds in ADGM and now has a fund focused on global AI. Joining me is the partner of the fund, Bilal Baloch. Bilal, thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you for having me.
Can you tell us about Shorooq?
Shorooq is a home-grown fund here in Abu Dhabi. We were founded about ten years ago in 2017. We really built our reputation off of investing in the region — early stage tech, mainly in fintech — but since then have grown into other asset classes and also gone beyond the region into global investments. About a year and a half ago, we started an AI fund focused on the US, with one of our partners Presight — which is a G42 company — and set on a journey to invest in early stage AI companies as well as some select growth stage AI companies around the world.
AI valuations have been a major topic. What are your thoughts and if the bubble were to burst, would that be good or bad for venture?
This has been hotly debated for at least a year, when some valuations started to cross a threshold we have historically never seen before. The way to think about it is what stage of that value chain you are coming in at. On the earlier side, you always have to maintain discipline. Even if we were to grant there is a bubble on the valuation side — and there are some indications there is — if that bubble were to burst, the trickle-down effect would actually be advantageous for a lot of early-stage companies in terms of not just price but also talent. We are coming in at seed and Series A stages. We have seen some valuations even on that side that are higher than we would like, and that is where we have to maintain discipline — really interrogating if those valuations are warranted.
What sectors within AI are hot right now? What are you focused on?
We have a very clear and disciplined focus. We want to invest in the layers of AI where we can add value from our region, from our partners, and in terms of our capital. That narrows us down to a select few industries — but those are pretty sizeable markets. We are talking about energy, infrastructure, and finance. Historically we have been drawn towards companies at the application layer. But increasingly we are looking at AI companies focused on the physical world — jumping from the screen into the factory. Most recently we have invested in the likes of General Robotics and Maven Robotics. These are companies being born out of the US but that can have global resonance, especially in a region like ours.
How do you keep ahead of the curve when every day there is a new headline in AI?
It is an art, not a science — especially at the early stages. We spend a lot of time with founders, perhaps more than the typical fund out of Silicon Valley or New York. It is our responsibility to do so precisely because of the factors around valuations and around trends. Something that is in vogue today may not be tomorrow, or could be displaced by a new product release from OpenAI or Anthropic. So it is important to remain focused on what are the structural factors leading us to get excited about a company. Once we identify those, our job is to think through what is durable.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
