Dubai’s BY Venture Partners Closes US$60 Million Fund III to Back Global AI-Native Startups

Anchored by the Dubai Future District Fund, the vehicle brings the firm’s total assets under management to more than US$200 million.

By Entrepreneur Middle East Staff | Oct 29, 2026

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BY Venture Partners, a global early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Dubai, has closed its third vehicle, Fund III, at US$60 million to invest in AI-native startups, bringing its total assets under management to more than US$200 million.

Anchored by the Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF), Fund III will primarily make investments of up to US$1 million in companies at the pre-seed to Series A stages. It will focus on startups using AI to reshape enterprise workflows, with an emphasis on businesses built to serve international markets from the outset.

Other investors include regional institutions, corporate venture arms, and family offices, among them AI and high-speed data infrastructure company MultiLane, Transmed Capital, and Saudi Arabia’s Idriss Family Office.

The fund has already made 15 investments toward a planned portfolio of 40 companies. These include PQ Shield, Cosyne, Isometric, Huspy and Invisible.

“The focus of this fund is to back AI-native companies with global ambitions,” said Ghaith Yafi, Founding Partner at BY Venture Partners. “We are particularly excited about the opportunity to attract some of the world’s most innovative AI companies into the Middle East and connect them with the region’s rapidly growing technology ecosystem.”

The firm invests across more than 16 international markets, with two-thirds of its capital deployed outside MENA, across North America and Europe. Its first two funds backed companies including NymCard, Toters, Huspy, Onfido, and Invisible Technologies.

BY Venture Partners is led by four partners, Ghaith Yafi, Abdallah Yafi, Rami Jisr and Sohrab Jahanbani, all of whom built and exited businesses before becoming investors.

Nader Albastaki, Managing Director of DFDF, said the fund’s ability to connect Dubai with international founders was central to its investment decision.

“We committed to Fund III because BY’s model works in both directions. It brings global AI-native companies into Dubai and takes founders from this region into international markets, and that exchange is what Dubai’s Economic Agenda D33 asks of us,” Albastaki said.

“Ghaith, Abdallah, Rami, Sohrab and the team have built and exited companies themselves and have managed capital through a full market cycle. The flow of companies and founders across that bridge is the basis on which we will measure this partnership.”

According to the firm, its first two funds have backed four companies that reached unicorn status, two from each fund.

Alongside its investment activities, BY Venture Partners has secured a mandate backed by the Ministry of Technology and AI in Lebanon (MITAI) to manage and operate the Lebanese Angel Investor Network (LAIN).

The network connects capital from the Lebanese diaspora with early-stage founders in Lebanon and aims to develop a pipeline of regional angel investors. BY Venture Partners will reinvest 50% of its carried interest into rebuilding Lebanon’s startup ecosystem.