Group 42 has acquired two technology companies nurtured by Mubadala.

Mubadala, the deep-pocketed sovereign wealth fund based in Abu Dhabi (pictured above), now owns a minority stake in Group42, which provides AI and cloud-powered industry solutions in the region. Mubadala announced its investment on Friday after Group42 acquired the Injazat and Khazna Data Centres. (The Fintech Times)

Injazat and Khazna are both high-tech companies

“We incubated Khazna and Injazat and invested in them to become leaders in their field,” said Mubadala Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak. “G42 will benefit from their strong operational capabilities and complementary offerings.”

Injazat is a market leader in the areas of digital transformation, cloud, and cybersecurity. Meanwhile, Khazna has a reputation for its wholesale data center solutions.

According to Mubadala’s statement, the two companies, as part of Group42, will  “accelerate G42’s cloud business and its ability to deliver holistic and scalable technology solutions.”

Mubadala came to own the minority stake in Group42 as a result of the latter’s acquisition of Khazna and Injazat.

“These are two great technology entities, and this agreement reflects G42’s continuous effort to deliver cutting-edge, AI-enabled solutions to the region,” said Peng Xiao, CEO of Group 42. “Equally, we are looking forward to the expertise Mubadala brings to our organization, having founded and grown not only these two thriving companies but also other complementary businesses.”

Group42’s AI muscle

Group42 owns Artemis, a supercomputer ranked 31^st globally. Artemis is playing a role in a national project launched by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health to decode the human genome. It intends to thereby improve patient care for the entire population.

Khazna and Injazat bring Group42’s acquisitions this year to three.

In January it acquired Bayanat, an end-to-end provider of geospatial data products and services.

AI and Cloud in oil and gas

Group 42 on Sunday signed a strategic framework agreement to collaborate on the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and data solutions for the oil and gas industry with Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) and AIQ.

AIQ is an Abu Dhabi joint venture company between G42 and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, ADNOC. It specializes in the development of AI products and applications for the global oil and gas industry.

As part of the collaboration, AIQ’s world-class data scientists, AI experts, and software developers will work on developing and deploying AI modeling and supercomputing solutions using Schlumberger’s open cloud-based software platforms. The deployment will be hosted on G42’s cloud infrastructure.

Mubadala’s stature as a technology investor

The new stake in Group42 sits well with Mubadala’s worldwide investments in technology companies and startups.

In September it acquired a minority stake, through a secondary transaction, in  Silver Lake, a global leader in technology investing.

The two companies also announced a long-term investment strategy led by Silver Lake. Mubadala would support the plan with a $2 billion investment.

Mubadala and PE giant Kohlberg acquired controlling stakes in biopharmaceutical company PCI Pharma Services in August.

Mubadala’s financial investment arm, Mubadala Capital, recently led a $700 million growth equity round in REEF Technology.

REEF is transforming its parking lots’ business in North America into “neighborhood hubs,” calling this strategy as “proximity-as-a-service.”

The Middle East and AI

Last month, Saudi Arabia hosted a two-day Global AI Summit commencing Wednesday at Riyadh. In a speech on its opening day Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that 2020 presented the “perfect opportunity” to test the potential of artificial intelligence in the face of the unprecedented challenges from the Covid 19 pandemic.

At the summit, Saudi Arabia flagged off a $20 billion program. It aims to make the country a global leader in artificial intelligence and data science by 2030.

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