Bahrain to launch a $100m fund of funds to attract venture capitalists to the country

Bahrain’s Economic Development Board (normally referred as EDB Bahrain) is set to launch a $100m fund of funds, being dubbed as ‘superfund’, to attract venture capitalists in the country, Managing Director of EDB Simon Galpin told The National.

“We’re putting in place in the next month or so a ‘fund of funds’, which will aim to attract venture capitalists in Bahrain. They don’t have to only invest in Bahraini companies, they can invest from Bahrain in start-ups across the region,” said Simon Galpin, Managing Director of EDB, speaking to The National.

Established almost 18 years ago in 2000 as government agnecy, the Bahrain Economic Development Board has been working to attract investment into the country and encourage the development of the key sectors including financial services, manufacturing, ICT, and logistics and transportation services.

The Economic Development Board has also been at the center of efforts made by the country to turn itself into the next innovation hub of the region. Less than six months ago, EDB and FinTech Consortium, a FinTech ecosystem builder, launched “Bahrain FinTech Bay”, the largest FinTech hub of the region.

We have reached out to EDB to see if we can learn more details about the fund and will update this story if we hear from them.