Investment Thesis
The most consequential companies of the next decade will be built at the intersection of deep technology, applied AI, and sovereign capital seeking real-world outcomes. I invest where these forces meet — backing founders who translate hard science into scalable platforms, with a particular edge in bridging US/global innovation to high-growth markets in the GCC and beyond.
The Differentiated Lens
I built my first computer in '95 — a 286 with 1MB RAM — when I was 9 years old and spent the next decade as a technician in our family's IT business. I competed in esports in 2008 (Counter-Strike) before it was a career — because I've always been drawn to the frontier of whatever technology is reshaping how people live and work. That instinct carried into science, then into investing, and now into AI.
PhD in Bioscience (KAUST), MS in Microbiology (Rutgers) — earned while working full-time at Genzyme Genetics — with hands-on drug development experience from target discovery through IND-enabling studies and Phase I clinical trial design. I've built high-throughput screening systems, authored clinical laboratory standards (CLSI), and hold 3 US patents. When a founder walks me through their data or mechanism of action, I'm evaluating it — not outsourcing that judgment.
At AI Astrolabe, the company I founded to deliver high-quality multimodal data for frontier AI, I handle all business operations using an actual AI-first approach — legal, finance, contracting, fundraising. I'm not an armchair investor; I know what it feels like to make payroll, close a customer, and build systems from zero.
At the NEOM Investment Fund, I lead the life science portfolio and structure joint ventures to build "Industries of the Future" in Saudi Arabia. I present to an Investment Committee chaired by the Governor of PIF and navigate board-level approvals involving Saudi ministers and regulators. I understand what it takes to move capital through complex institutional frameworks — and I know how to de-risk deals for co-investors who want GCC exposure without the opacity.
American citizen, Saudi Premium Resident, UAE Golden Visa holder. Fluent across Western and South Asian cultures. 35+ countries. Strong networks spanning US venture, GCC sovereign wealth, and global policy circles (WEF, Milken). I don't just source deals — I unlock markets for portfolio companies.
Where I Invest
I treat biology as an engineering discipline and AI as the horizontal accelerant across everything I invest in. The best companies in my portfolio are technology companies — some happen to work in living systems, others in data infrastructure — but they share a common architecture: deep technical moats, platform optionality, and founders who understand the science as well as the market.
Cell-cultured proteins, precision fermentation, bio-based materials. The GCC is investing billions to build food and pharma sovereignty; I structure JVs to bring these technologies in-country. Companies that can license or localize production for Middle East and APAC markets have a second growth vector most US VCs overlook.
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) & novel therapeutics — My PhD domain. AMR is a slow-moving pandemic with massive unmet need and growing regulatory tailwinds (PASTEUR Act, CARB-X, WHO priority pathogens). I look for novel modalities — lysins, phage, host-directed therapies — where mechanism-of-action differentiation creates defensible IP.
Healthcare & digital tools — Platforms that bring computation into clinical workflows — digital biomarkers enabling decentralized trials, brain-computer interfaces moving from research to therapeutic devices, agentic AI automating healthcare operations. The common thread: technology that compresses the distance between data and clinical decision-making.
AI for science & drug discovery — Computational biology, generative chemistry, ML-driven target identification. The thesis isn't "AI will replace pharma R&D" — it's that AI-native companies will compress timelines and reduce capital intensity for the therapeutic bets above.
Multilingual & low-resource AI — This is personal. I founded AI Astrolabe to build human-curated multimodal datasets for low-resource languages. Frontier models are English-dominant; the economic opportunity in making them work for Arabic, Urdu, and other languages spoken by billions is enormous.
What I Look For
How I Operate
Stage: Primarily Series A and B, selectively at seed where I have deep domain conviction. Check sizes have ranged from $5M to $50M in institutional contexts.
Geography: Companies with global ambitions, especially those with an appetite for GCC expansion.
Macro Tailwinds
Track Record (Selected)
| Company | Sector | Stage | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonde Health | Digital Health / Diagnostics | Series A | Supported Transaction | Active |
| BlueNalu | Cell-Cultured Seafood | Series B | Board Member | Active |
| Liberation Bioindustries | Industrial Biotech | Series A | Board Member | Active |
| Paradromics | Brain-Computer Interfaces | Series B | Board Observer | Active |
| Animoca Brands | Gaming / Web3 | Series C | Investor | Active |
Earlier: Led preclinical therapeutic pipeline at ContraFect Corp (antimicrobial biotech), contributing to $20M financing round and eventual IPO.