Activate Capital, a US-based growth equity firm, has joined the Qatar Investment Authority’s (QIA) US$3 billion Fund of Funds and will open its first international office in Doha.

With QIA’s backing, Activate will further its investment strategy in the Global South. It will focus on sectors undergoing digitalisation and decarbonisation.

Activate invests in intelligent energy and infrastructure technology companies, from Series B to pre-IPO.

Its target sectors include energy and power, transportation and mobility on the ground and in space, digital industry, supply chain resilience and climate adaptation.

The Doha office will be staffed by senior investment professionals, including a partner focused on Qatar. The firm also plans to hire local Qatari and international talent.

As part of the partnership, QIA becomes a limited partner in Activate and joins the firm’s Limited Partners Advisory Committee.

QIA first announced the Fund of Funds in February 2024 to attract international venture capital (VC) firms to Qatar.

The programme also aims to deepen knowledge-sharing with the global VC industry and speed up the growth of startups in Qatar and the wider region.

“Activate Capital brings deep sector expertise that further support our ambition to develop Qatar into a leading hub for innovation, entrepreneurship and long-term investment,”

said Dr Mohsin Pirzada, Head of Funds at QIA.

“We share QIA’s conviction that technology enabled solutions will play a critical role in transforming infrastructure systems globally,”

said Anup Jacob, Co-Founder at Activate Capital.

Activate is the latest VC firm to join the programme. According to QIA, the firm’s focus on climate, energy and industrial infrastructure broadens the programme’s sector expertise and supports Qatar’s National Vision 2030.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News UAE, based on image by Activate Capital via its website and lifeforstock via Magnific.