BlueFive Capital closes $3 billion Onyx Fund to back AI and biotech in the US and Europe

BlueFive Capital has quietly locked in one of the largest new tech-focused funds to emerge from the Gulf this year.

The Abu Dhabi-headquartered alternative investment firm said it has closed its Onyx Fund I at $3 billion, setting its sights on technology and growth investments across the U.S. and Europe. The fund will back startups working in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and advanced computing, areas where capital demand is rising as both compute and biological research reach new inflection points.

“The fund is anchored by opportunistic sovereign capital from across the GCC, reflecting a strategic alignment between the region’s long-term investment priorities and high-conviction exposure to foundational technological disruption in Western markets,” BlueFiveCapital said in a news release.

“BlueFive Capital closed its $3 billion Onyx Fund I, it said on Monday, targeting opportunistic technology and growth investments in the U.S. and Europe,” Reuters confirmed.

Registered with the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the fund reflects a growing push by Gulf investors to place long-term bets on foundational technologies shaping Western markets. BlueFive said the fund is anchored by sovereign capital from across the GCC, though it did not disclose the names of its limited partners.

BlueFive was founded in 2024 by Hazem Ben-Gacem, formerly co-CEO of Investcorp, and has positioned itself as a global platform rather than a region-bound private equity firm. Its shareholder base includes Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, which acquired a stake in the company in 2025.

According to Ben-Gacem, the Onyx Fund is meant to deploy capital at moments when technological progress meets real commercial scale.

“The Onyx Fund aims to target the current inflection points in both computational and biological intelligence, allowing us to partner with visionary entrepreneurs who are defining the next technological epoch. Abu Dhabi Global Market provides the ideal forward-looking regulatory ecosystem to anchor a fund of this global ambition,” he said.

The firm expects to make several technology and biotechnology investments in the U.S. over the coming months, signaling that capital deployment is already underway rather than sitting on the sidelines.

BlueFive operates through three parallel businesses: BlueFive Financial, BlueFive Asset Management, and BlueFive Advisory. It maintains offices in Bahrain, London, Abu Dhabi, and Beijing, and is chaired by Sheikh Mohamed Isa Al Khalifa, the former CEO of Bahrain’s national pension fund.

The Onyx Fund adds to the firm’s growing list of initiatives. BlueFive previously raised $2 billion for its GCC-focused Reef Private Equity Fund I, which targets large-cap deals in the region. Its first transaction under that fund was the full acquisition of Wusoom Holding, a diversified group with assets spanning real estate, technology, hospitality, aviation, and industrial sectors across the Gulf.

The firm has stayed active outside traditional buyouts. Last month, BlueFive led a $230 million seed round for Mal, an AI-powered Islamic digital bank founded by serial entrepreneur Abdallah Abu-Sheikh. The raise marked the largest seed funding round recorded in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Earlier efforts have included launching a joint private equity fund with China’s CICC Capital to support Chinese companies pursuing Gulf expansion, as well as a cross-shareholding partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Al Murjan Group to build a global Islamic finance platform.

With the Onyx Fund now fully raised, BlueFive is entering its next phase as a capital allocator, focused less on regional identity and more on where technological shifts are creating investable moments. The firm’s next moves, particularly in U.S. AI and biotech, will offer a clearer view of how Gulf capital plans to shape the next chapter of Western innovation.