Phoenix Venture Partners completes debut fundraise with $23M across fund and co-investments

DUBAI — Phoenix Venture Partners has completed its debut fundraise with roughly $23 million across its fund and co-investment vehicles, closing below the $50 million target it set for Fund I.

The Abu Dhabi-based firm stopped accepting commitments on 3 October, about a year after its first close in October 2024. The LP base spans 42 investors in nine jurisdictions, among them KSH Investments, the private department of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan, Kuwait-listed Al-Imtiaz Investment Group, the Fawzi Musaad Al-Saleh Family Office and Luxembourg's Lucaslux.

Phoenix was founded by Steve Khayat, Faris Al-Obaid and Mussaad Al-Razouki to back early-stage MENA technology companies across fintech, healthcare, education, logistics and sustainability. It has seven portfolio companies against a target of 15 to 20, holds about 45 percent of the fund as dry powder, and reports a 1.53x TVPI that Carta's Q2 2026 benchmark places in the top decile. Recent moves include leading Sav's $3.5 million pre-Series A in September and taking a board seat at COFE Tech ahead of its $43 million pre-IPO round.

A sub-target close with strong paper returns captures the current LP mood: performance is necessary but not sufficient to hit fund size ambitions in this market.

Watch how Phoenix deploys its remaining dry powder and whether the co-investment vehicles become the firm's main route to larger cheques.

FWDStart first reported the close.