The Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF), Middle East’s first evergreen venture capital fund of funds, has committed about a fifth of its total corpus to support climate technology and innovation in the region.
The fund, anchored by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in collaboration with the Dubai Future Foundation, has earmarked AED 200 million (around $55 million) towards climate sustainability initiatives, at COP28’s Finance Day.
Established two years ago, DFDF has a corpus of AED 1 billion (around $272 million) with a portfolio comprising of direct as well as FoF bets.
"DFDF is allocating a portion of the fund to climate technology ventures, underscoring our commitment to the COP/CIF landscape and reinforcing our focus on the future of food, logistics and the theme of financial inclusion,” said Sharif El-Badawi, CEO of Dubai Future District Fund.
“Our pledge extends beyond financial investments; it symbolises our dedication to reshaping Dubai's venture capital landscape,” he added.
DFDF’s key fund-of-fund commitments from this year include Global Ventures, Asian fintech-focussed venture capital firm Arbor Ventures and Gulf-focussed early stage investor Nuwa Capital.
It has so far made 11 direct investments and nine FoF investments with ticket sizes of up to $5 million in the case of VC investments and $250,000-1 million in the case of early-stage bets.
The fund aims to deploy half of its capital into VC funds with a local focus and the other half into direct investments in startups.
"The allocation of up to AED 200 million from DFDF to sustainable technology ventures represents more than a monetary commitment; it signifies our mission to enhance Dubai’s venture capital ecosystem. At the heart of DFDF's operations is a focus on the future of finance and future economies; areas we believe are critical in driving forward the global agenda for sustainability and innovation,” said Khalfan Belhoul, chairman of DFDF and CEO of Dubai Future Foundation.