Investcorp, a global alternative investments firm, recently announced the launch of eLydian Lion, which is reportedly the first dedicated institutional blockchain fund based in the GCC, with “a global investment mandate.”
The Fund – which will be led from Investcorp’s Abu Dhabi office – will be “deployed globally and will focus on investments in companies leading the next digital evolution driven by blockchain technology.”
The Fund will “enable investors to gain early exposure to the rapid growth of the blockchain ecosystem, which is at the forefront of the digital transformation of the economy.”
The Fund will mainly “invest in early-stage companies operating in areas within the blockchain ecosystem such as blockchain infrastructure, platforms and exchanges, decentralised finance, and data analytics.”
Hazem Ben-Gacem, Co-Chief Executive Officer at Investcorp, said:
“Offering our clients innovative and bold investment ideas, backed by our disciplined and proven approach, has been a key element of our success over the last four decades. We have a strong track record in technology investment and will bring our institutional expertise and global reach to bear on this fast-growing area of technology.”
Gilbert Kamieniecky, Head of Investcorp’s Technology Private Equity business, remarked:
“We believe that blockchain technology and the ecosystem around it, will transform every facet of our economy much like the internet did in the 2000s. We have already seen the potential of blockchain to disrupt existing markets and create new ones, such as the meteoric rise of the Non-Fungible Tokens market that in just a few years has grown from under a billion to more than $40 billion. This new Fund will support the most innovative entrepreneurs from around the world who are developing the blockchain ecosystem and defining what the future digital economy will be.”
The Fund is independent of and “complementary to Investcorp Technology Partners, Investcorp’s … investment strategy focused on lower mid-market technology opportunities.”
