Abu Dhabi: Mubadala will be working with international funds, inviting them to invest in Abu Dhabi to boost the start up eco-system in the capital, a top executive of the firm said on Wednesday.

“We will be working with international funds, inviting them to Abu Dhabi, to play a role in the community here. We will be supporting regional funds to play an active role in supporting our founders,” said Ebrahim Ajami, head of Mubadala Ventures, the venture capital arm of Mubadala Investment Company, while speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi.

In the next 12 months, the company will be announcing funds from the US and Europe, which are expected to set up shop in Abu Dhabi and explore the region more seriously, he said.

“This is an initiative that not only builds talent; we also want to attract talent from around the region, India, Pakistan, Eastern Europe and Western Europe,” Ajami said.

“Of the talent that goes to Silicon Valley, a lot of it comes from China and Eastern Europe. We have an incredible standard of living here, a great place to build home and a family. We are putting all the right incentives, and Mubadala is leveraging its global network, and scale and access to support founder ecosystem in the region. We want great talent from anywhere in the world to build their business in Abu Dhabi.”

Mubadala wants to help startups in areas such as blockchain, autonomous mobility and food delivery, among others.

“We have the Vision Fund, which is setting up an office here (Abu Dhabi),” Ajami added.

Mubadala Investment Company in 2017 made a $15 billion (Dh55 billion) commitment to the SoftBank Vision Fund, a major technology- and innovation-focused fund launched by Japan based SoftBank Group.

Mubadala Ventures is based in San Francisco and the US platform invests in both early stage technology funds and early stage technology companies, according to Ajami.

“We now have 12 funds and 12 companies in our US portfolio and we want to keep building that strategy over the next decade, as we expand.

“We are doing the same thing in Europe, as we did in the US.

“We are building a business in Europe focused on European funds and European technologies. We are working very closely with Vision Fund in San Francisco as well as London.”

He also said the US venture fund is worth $400 million and 30 per cent of that has been ploughed into US companies in various sectors including healthcare, technology, artificial intelligence, intech and enterprise cybersecurity firms in Silicon Valley and Salt Lake City.

The company is also looking at firms in New York.

It is also planning to launch a $400 million European fund this year focusing on the technology sector.