King & Spalding advised Iliad Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm based in the UAE, on the launch and first close of Iliad Partners Tech Ventures Fund I, its new fund which is domiciled and regulated in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (“ADGM”). The Fund will invest in Pre-Series A and Series A stage B2B tech startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, primarily in Saudi Arabia the UAE, and will also allocate 10% of commitments to investments in Europe, with a focus on Greece, to support startups expanding into the MENA region. From a sector perspective, the Fund will particularly target companies driving digitization and innovation in the fintech, logistics and proptech spaces. The Fund has initially invested in MENA regional startups OTO (a Saudi shipping gateway and logistics platform for e-commerce stores and retailers), Penny (a Saudi cloud-based SaaS source-to-pay procurement solution for enterprises), and Qashio (a UAE fintech platform with a comprehensive spend management solution for corporates).
The Fund is backed by prominent investors, both on a regional and global basis, including Jada Fund of Funds (a PIF company), the Olayan Family, Masarrah Investment Company, MLM Investments, the Constantakopoulos Family of Greece, and other major family groups and family offices in the GCC and Europe.
Iliad Partners is headquartered in the UAE and is licensed by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority in the ADGM. Founded by Christos Mastoras and Omar Al-Madhi, Iliad Partners was an early contributor to the development of the MENA tech ecosystem. Its senior team consists of experienced entrepreneurs, technology operating executives, and venture capital and private equity investors with a track record of building, investing in, and exiting business in the region.
The cross-office King & Spalding team advising on the fund launch included James Stull (Dubai), Dora Chan (Singapore) and Benedict Grima (Dubai). Asal Saghari (Dubai) and Macky O’Sullivan (Dubai) advised on warehousing financing and acquisition matters. John Green (Washington, DC.) advised on tax matters.
