Oman's Phaze Ventures Launches Two AI Funds Targeting Over $75 Million

Muscat, Oman — Omani venture capital firm Phaze Ventures has launched two new funds with a combined target of more than $75 million, splitting its capital between artificial intelligence and deeptech startups worldwide and AI-enabled companies founded in Oman.

The global mandate sits with Phaze Ventures Fund II, which carries forward the firm's global AI and deeptech strategy. Its anchor investors are ITHCA Group, a subsidiary of Oman Investment Authority, along with Ominvest and Oman LNG Development Foundation. Future Fund Oman is the anchor behind the second vehicle, Phaze Ventures Oman Fund, a dedicated pool of capital for AI-enabled startups built in the sultanate.

Investors have so far committed over $40 million across both funds, according to the company's announcement, and talks are continuing to take the total to $75 million.

Phaze Ventures linked the timing to Oman's work on the International Financial Centre of Oman, which it described as a new hub for international companies and investors. Set up by Royal Decree No. 8/2026, the center will apply common law principles in its legal system and is due to start initial operations by the end of 2026, according to Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The country has also been building out rules for financial technology. In September, Oman launched a National Fintech Strategy and digital portal, with the Central Bank of Oman coordinating the regulators involved.

Abdullah Al Shaksy, co-founder and CEO of Phaze Ventures, said: “AI is the most disruptive technology shift of our generation. Oman and the Gulf can’t afford to be a spectator, and our participation can’t be limited to playing catch-up through investments in hyperscalers, data centers and public market offerings. We need to invest in the founders disrupting industries at home and across the globe, and we need to be a part of that disruption early”.

Arabic.AI, Sully.ai, Andromeda Surgical, Boardy.ai and Metal are among the 10 companies the new funds have backed so far. Other investors on those cap tables include Y Combinator, a16z, 8VC, Standard Capital and Baidu Ventures. Pairing Omani anchor capital with international co-investors could give Gulf investors exposure to AI companies at an earlier stage than public markets typically allow.

Arabic.AI, which sells AI tools in Arabic to businesses, counts Saudi Arabia's HUMAIN as an investor and has a partnership with Qualcomm Technologies. Nour Al Hassan, founder and CEO of Arabic.AI, said: “Getting to know the Phaze Ventures team convinced me they were the right partners. They shared our ambition to build AI our region can own and our long-term commitment to make it happen.”

HUMAIN, the AI company set up by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund in May 2025, made its strategic investment in Arabic.AI in September, alongside a commercial partnership covering translation, document processing and enterprise AI.

Sully.ai, another holding, was featured by NVIDIA in a case study that showed inference costs falling by 90% and response times improving by 65% in medical workflows. Ahmed Omar, co-founder and CEO of Sully.ai, said: “Phaze Ventures understood early how Sully could leverage AI to bring more capacity and real returns to the global healthcare system. They backed us every step of the way as we scaled globally, and were able to connect us with healthcare providers who could put our product to work.”

In surgical robotics, Phaze Ventures got into Andromeda Surgical before Standard Capital led the company's $15 million Series A. The firm first came in at the seed stage in September 2025, and the Series A in August took Andromeda's total funding to $30 million.

Phaze Ventures now has team members in Muscat, Dubai and Riyadh, and it runs money for more than 50 investors, ranging from sovereign entities and listed companies to corporates, family offices and business families, spread across Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, India and further afield. Mohammed Al Wahaibi, co-founder and partner at Phaze Ventures, said: “Investors across Oman and the Gulf want a stake in the next generation of AI companies while they are still taking shape. This platform is our answer”.

Phaze Ventures, which calls itself the oldest private venture capital firm in Oman, was set up in 2018 and invests in young AI and deeptech companies, mainly in the GCC and North America.