Shorooq: Abu Dhabi's Fintech-to-Frontier Growth Engine

Shorooq is the Abu Dhabi-based multi-strategy financial services firm that has grown from a bootstrapped seed fund into one of the most recognisable names in Middle East venture capital. Founded in 2017 by Shane Shin and Mahmoud Adi — who started, in Adi's own words, with investments backed by close friends and families — the firm now reports $1 billion in assets under management, more than 100 portfolio companies across 11 countries, $14 billion in portfolio gross equity value and 5 exits.

Shorooq began as a seed-stage specialist across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, building deep expertise in fintech, platforms, software and Web3. Its flagship seed vehicle, Bedaya Fund II, launched in March 2022 targeting $150 million for pre-seed, seed, pre-Series A and Series A rounds in fintech, software, platform verticals and digital assets. The fund led the pre-seed round of Nuqtah, the first NFT born out of Saudi Arabia, and its investors include DisruptAD (ADQ's venture platform), the Dubai Future District Fund and Bupa Insurance, with the firm's funds backed by seven sovereign wealth funds. In 2021 Shorooq also announced Nahda Fund, the first Middle East-focused venture debt fund.

The portfolio reads like a roll call of the region's breakout companies: Pure Harvest Smart Farms (agritech), Sarwa (robo-advisory), Lean Technologies (open banking), TruKKer (logistics), Capiter and Retailo (B2B commerce), Lendo (SME lending), NymCard (card issuance), Breadfast (grocery delivery), Airlift, Mozn (AI) and Aumet (pharma distribution). The firm's own press material credits its companies with creating over 5,000 jobs at the time of the Bedaya Fund II announcement.

Today Shorooq operates as a multi-strategy platform spanning venture capital, private equity, credit and real assets, with frontier tech alongside fintech, software and platforms. It is headquartered in Abu Dhabi and has offices across Dubai, Riyadh, Manama, Cairo and Islamabad — with investment logos from the likes of Mubadala, Jada Fund of Funds (PIF), Saudi Venture Capital and Korea's KVIC on its platform. Shorooq Partners Ltd is regulated by the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority, and the firm has won the region's Investor of the Year award three consecutive times.

For founders, Shorooq's distinguishing trait is its company-building philosophy: the firm describes itself as founders' partners, company builders and value investors, and pairs on-the-ground deal teams in six markets with the balance sheet of a multi-strategy manager.