A $100 Billion Middle East AI Fund Plots Its U.S. Expansion
Last month, when OpenAI announced a record-breaking $6.6 billion venture round, an unfamiliar new name appeared among the investors pouring money into the hot artificial intelligence startup: MGX.
It was the first public investment ever for the Abu Dhabi–based MGX, and it was a splashy debut for a firm most Silicon Valley investors had never heard of. They could be excused for that: Two other firms from the United Arab Emirates, Mubadala Investment Co. and G42, had formed MGX only in March as a joint venture meant to signal the country’s seriousness about becoming a powerhouse in AI investing.
Of OpenAI’s haul, MGX invested roughly $500 million, according to a person familiar with the deal—a figure that hasn’t been previously reported. The firm beat out other investors who had been clamoring to participate in the round, a sign of the relationship between OpenAI’s globe-trotting CEO, Sam Altman, and Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the MGX board chair and powerful Emirati leader who holds some of the keys to the country’s vast wealth.
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