Dubai-based Jabbar announces Kambio, a blockchain-enabled platform to make startup investments easy

Jabbar, the Dubai-based technology investment company that was formed by Sami Toukhan and Hussam Khoury after the sale of Maktoob.com to Yahoo in 2009 has announced Kambio Ventures, a blockchain-enabled, fully-regulated platform that will serve as an exchange to startups.

This would be Jabbar’s first attempt at blockchain. They’ve been investing in different regional startups and have companies like ArabiaWeather, Democrance, OfficeRock, and POSRocket in their portfolio. They also have some of the biggest exits under their name including Souq, Maktoob.com, Cobone and CashU.

Founded by Samih Toukan, Hussam Khoury, and Louay Aldoory, Kambio’s marketplace for tokenized asset-backed securities that aims to make the startup investment journey simple, secure and instant.

“It will provide an attractive, friendly environment for investors, entrepreneurs and institutions. Members will be able to leverage expertise, access local know-how and have the ability to dial up or down risk by region, sector and even venture capital firm. It will be an ecosystem that advances exchange members forward through active participation, knowledge-sharing and access to dedicated local research and resources,” the company said in a statement.

Headquartered in London, the platform that will launch following regulatory approvals next year will include the following features.

• Tokenized start-up investments with a proprietary Proof-of-Asset token
• Dedicated primary market for start-ups with multiple finance rounds
• Dedicated secondary market for start-ups providing liquidity
• Access to exceptional start-ups with rigorous due diligence and full lifecycle curation
• Transparent, immutable and fair transactions with instant execution
• Secure personal accounts with segregated custody

The platform will deliver primary capital funding and secondary exchange liquidity for investors, entrepreneurs and institutions. All the startups will be listed on the private regulated exchange.

Samih Toukan, the co-founder of Kambio and Partner with Jabbar, speaking about the platform said, “The current venture capital operating model is complicated and appears outdated – arguably underwhelming both entrepreneurs and investors alike. Both are facing a continuous struggle to secure liquidity, with very long exit cycles. Kambio will be an intuitive, secure, fast, efficient and a regulated ecosystem which will transform the way start-ups operate.”

Louay Aldoory, Kambio co-founder sharing his thoughts about what the platform will offer, said, “The current security token space is nascent, with fundamental jigsaw pieces still missing, including: liquidity management; custody; legal framework; and ownership structure. Kambio plans to fill those gaps and remove unnecessary middle men, all within a secure and regulated environment – revolutionising both venture capital and capital markets.”

The platform according to the information available on Kambio’s website will allows startups all around the world raise investments from both local and global VCs.