Advancing the Next Wave of AI™
Nexan Ventures is an AI-Native venture capital firm backing pre-seed AI founders across the Middle East, engaged with the regional venture and AI community in service of one mission: Advancing the Next Wave of AI™.
Why and why now
AI is reshaping the Middle East faster than most outsiders realise. Yet two gaps stand in the way: smart capital at the earliest stage is still scarce for local AI founders, and the venture ecosystem around them is still forming. Closing both gaps is where the next decade of regional AI value will be made. Nexan Ventures is built to close them.
Investment approach
Our investment focus spans three priority AI areas: AI-Native, Agentic AI, and Sovereign AI. We deploy funds through two vehicles. Nexan AI Fund I is a focused pre-seed fund for AI founders with a substantive connection to the UAE or Saudi Arabia. Nexan Select is a deal-by-deal co-investment vehicle for exceptional AI opportunities sourced through the Nexan Network.
Ecosystem Engagement
Beyond capital deployment, Nexan engages with the regional venture and AI community: other VCs, accelerators, incubators, founder networks, government startup programmes, technology providers and hyperscalers. Across these audiences we operate as ecosystem adviser, founder mentor, and speaker.
We are ourselves an AI-Native firm
We do not just invest in AI. We run on an AI Operating Model. AI platforms and custom agentic workflows run continuously across sourcing, diligence, portfolio support, and operations, with humans in the loop at key decision points.
Investing in key priority areas in AI
Nexan invests in pre-seed AI founders across the Middle East. Our investment vehicles and portfolio support draw on deep operator and advisory experience across the Gulf, and extend well past the cheque.
AI-Native
Startups that rethink workflows from first principles, creating products that could not exist without AI. Leaner, faster, and structurally more scalable.
Agentic AI
AI systems that reason, plan, and act autonomously. Multi-step task execution, decisions within guardrails, reshaping enterprise operations and knowledge work.
Sovereign AI
Nations building their own AI capabilities for strategic autonomy. Government support is the ultimate AI catalyst in the Gulf, reshaping what founders can credibly build here.
Nexan AI Fund I
Pre-seed AI fund backing founders with a substantive connection to the UAE or Saudi Arabia. AI-Native, Agentic AI, and Sovereign AI focus.
Nexan Select
Co-investment vehicle for exceptional AI opportunities sourced through the Nexan Network. No geographic or stage restriction.
Product
Roadmap design, applied AI architecture, build-versus-buy, and technical hiring.
Go-to-market
Positioning, pricing, sales motion, and channel build. Depth on enterprise and government-adjacent sectors in the Gulf.
Business development and partnerships
Enterprise customer introductions, distribution partners, hyperscaler relationships, and strategic alliances.
Fundraising and investor relations
Pitch and narrative work, investor introductions, board structure, and follow-on planning. Drawing on Gulf and international investor relationships.
Enterprise and government access
Sovereign fund engagement, regulator navigation, government AI programmes, and public-sector pilots.
Talent and operating leadership
Senior hiring, founder coaching, organisational design, and operating cadence. Vetted operators via the Nexan Network.
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Active across the regional AI venture community.
A venture capital firm is only as strong as the ecosystem around it. In a region where the AI venture community is still forming, every founder backed, every fund raised, every programme launched compounds the next.
Beyond deploying capital, Nexan engages publicly with the regional ecosystem — contributing senior perspective to the programmes and institutions shaping the agenda, mentoring founders, and speaking at the forums where the regional AI conversation happens.
Ecosystem Adviser
Strategy input to programmes, funds, and government initiatives building the regional AI venture stack.
Founder Mentor
Senior support to founders inside accelerator programmes and through direct introduction.
Speaker
Conferences, panels, and executive briefings on the regional AI agenda and AI-Native investing.
Built on AI, not just investing in it.
Most venture firms invest in AI. Nexan operates as one. The AI-Native shift is rewriting what a venture firm can do at scale, and Nexan is built this way from the start, with AI as the operating substrate across sourcing, diligence, portfolio support, and operations. The compounding advantage flows back to the founders and ecosystem we serve.
Proprietary agents
Specialist AI agents for sourcing, ecosystem intelligence, portfolio monitoring, and internal operations. Built in-house and continuously refined.
Custom algorithms
Models tuned to MENA venture deal flow, founder-fit assessment, and portfolio support patterns. Trained on regional data and continuously evaluated.
Dedicated workflows
End-to-end pipelines for diligence, decision-making, portfolio engagement, and reporting. Humans in the loop at every consequential decision.
Curated datasets
Proprietary datasets covering the regional AI startup landscape, talent pool, and venture activity. The foundation of every Nexan model.
Full-stack AI venture capabilities.
A founder-led core with a curated network of senior operators on call, and an institutional partner anchoring fund operations.
Senior business executive at the intersection of AI, venture, and Middle East strategy. Career spans McKinsey, LG Electronics, and Royal Philips. Computer scientist by training, AI entrepreneur, consultant, and investor.
MSc in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, then co-founded an AI startup in San Francisco in speech recognition. Four years at McKinsey leading strategy and transformation across industries.
Seventeen years in the Gulf in C-suite roles at LG Electronics and Philips across the Middle East and Africa, leading a healthcare consulting practice and advising on national AI programmes.
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A curated bench of senior operators, sector specialists, and functional experts routed by the Nexan team when a portfolio founder or engagement needs a specific senior hand.
The network scales Nexan's reach beyond its core team, extending diligence, deepening portfolio support, and matching each engagement to the right senior specialist.
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administration
With power comes responsibility.
Venture capital and artificial intelligence are among the most powerful forces for change today. Nexan operates on two anchored commitments: an industry-wide ethical code for venture capitalists, and a portfolio-level commitment to ethical AI.
Developed by the Founder Institute and VC Lab, the Mensarius Oath is an ethical code of conduct for venture capitalists. Nexan Ventures is a proud signatory.
As a steward of capital and a builder of ventures, I pledge to act with integrity, transparency, and accountability in all my dealings.
I will prioritise the long-term interests of founders, investors, and the broader ecosystem over short-term gain. I will invest with conviction but also with conscience, recognising that the companies we build today will shape the society of tomorrow.
I will be honest in my assessments, fair in my terms, and respectful of the trust placed in me. I will champion diversity of thought, background, and perspective.
I will hold myself to the highest ethical standards and expect the same of those I work with.
Our commitments on Ethical AI
- Require transparency and explainability in the AI systems our portfolio companies build.
- Mitigate bias in training data, model outcomes, and downstream decisions.
- Build for security and resilience against adversarial misuse.
- Preserve human oversight and intervention rights across critical decision flows.
- Champion data privacy, security, and responsible data governance across our portfolio.
- Support diversity and inclusion in founding teams, hiring, and AI development.
- Apply heightened scrutiny to deployment in high-stakes contexts including healthcare, defence, and government.
- Engage with regulators and standards bodies shaping responsible AI policy in the region.
Contact Nexan Ventures.
Pitch your AI startup.
Building an AI startup with regional connection to the UAE or KSA, in AI-Native, Agentic AI, or Sovereign AI?
Submit your deck to Nexan Ventures.
Write to us.
Investors curious about Nexan AI Fund I or Nexan Select, ecosystem partners exploring a venture collaboration, candidates for the Nexan Network, or media. We would love to hear from you.
contact@nexan.vc