Azimut ME Limited, in partnership with innovation platform Gellify Middle East, is setting up a $50 million venture capital fund focused on business-to-business (B2B) start-ups in the MENA region.

The Azimut Gellify Mena VC Fund will invest in seed-stage and market-phase start-ups, and those ready to scale up, the companies said on Monday.

The Abu Dhabi-based Azimut is a subsidiary of European asset manager Azimut.

The start-ups will have the potential to disrupt sectors such as smart cities, health care, digital commerce, FinTech, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and tourism through the use of advanced technology such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain and cyber security, it said.

“We aim to replicate our experience in Europe where we have made successful exits and, in the process, enhance the innovation capacity of the region,” said Massimo Cannizzo, chief executive and co-founder of Gellify Middle East.

In 2019 Azimut and Gellify raised EUR65 million for the Digitech Fund—a VC strategy predominantly focusing on European startups.

(Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)

brinda.darasha@refinitiv.com

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