Dubai-based Turn8 has launched a $60 million venture capital fund for technology innovation. Turn8 Innovation Fund I L.P. makes Turn8 one of the largest providers of seed capital in the region catering to the global start-up eco system.

Kamal Hassan, general partner, Turn8 said: “This strategic move comes from witnessing a major gap in the market for start-ups to grow from the accelerator stage into full-fledged businesses that attract venture capital. We are very excited to see more start-ups with different innovative technology rising from the Mena region and this fund will provide a further push to their business.”

“The fund will continue to support the start-up ecosystem and look for opportunities in technology innovation that match our portfolio requirements and are in line with our strategic objectives,” added Hassan.

Turn8 accelerator has successfully launched and invested in over 60 companies till date, a statement said.

DP World and Innovation360 setup the Turn8 accelerator in 2013. Since then it has successfully provided pre-seed funding to start-ups ranging from sectors such as digital healthcare, crowdsourcing, EduTech, FinTech and Enterprise Cloud Solutions and raised over $6million in co-investment for its portfolio companies from various worldwide investors. DP world is the first anchor investor, with over 20 per cent ownership of the fund.

The new fund will follow a dual investment strategy of seed funding to accelerator stage start-ups and follow-on funding for growth stage start-ups graduates of the Turn8 accelerator. - TradeArabia News Service