UAE-Based Disrupt.com Commits US$100 Million To AI Startups

UAE-based venture builder Disrupt.com has announced a US$100 million commitment to fund and develop artificial intelligence (AI)-first technology ventures globally. 

With a focus on supporting early-stage startups in AI, cybersecurity, Web3, automotive technology, and retail innovation, Disrupt.com was founded in 2008 by Aaqib Gadit, Uzair Gadit, and Umair Gadit (three university friends who grew up in the same household), who had previously built the cloud hosting platform Cloudways, before selling it to the US-listed Digital Ocean Holdings in a $350 million deal, marking Pakistan’s largest technology sector acquisition at the time. 

The decision to invest heavily in AI comes amid a downturn in venture capital funding. However, in an interview with Inc. Arabia, Aaqib, co-founder and CEO of Disrupt.com, said that he believes this is the ideal time for seasoned entrepreneurs to invest. "As serial entrepreneurs, and ones that have built and scaled a company successfully to exit, we have the inside track on what may or may not be risky," he said. "Over the last 15 years, we have bootstrapped our way to building a number of global products and companies to scale, learning all the way that timing, expertise, access, support, customer-centric approach, and a little luck all play a big role in driving success. We are able to analyze the workings of a startup at a level that perhaps non-startup execs cannot by bringing our own learnings to the fore. Behind the numbers, we see the deep workings of a business – its areas of strengths but also its areas of vulnerability." 

According to Aaqib, the current wave of AI development is a unique opportunity for both entrepreneurs and investors. "Given our hands on, roll-up-the-sleeves approach, when we see a business that has the potential to thrive, that perhaps needs a little nurturing and leadership to go all the way, we jump right in," Aaqib said. "Seeing strong, ambitious, and talented founders succeed is what motivates us. We believe that the speed of evolution in AI provides a one-in-a-generation opportunity to build industry-defining technology companies. With the right constraints, creativity, and execution, now is the time to build category-defining companies." 

But Disrupt.com is far from a traditional venture capital (VC) firm. Rather than simply providing funding, Disrupt.com employs a three-pronged approach: building startups from scratch, co-building ventures with external founders, and making strategic early-stage investments. This model allows Disrupt.com to take a hands-on role in scaling its portfolio companies, effectively working as co-fractional founders for many of the startups that they invest in.

"Positioned as an alternate form of pre-seed venture capital, we provide both cash and dedicated resources as part of our investment," Aaqib told Inc. Arabia. "This means we lift the bonnet, and we get into the workings of the early stages of a startup lifecycle, across all of its functions. When we act as co-fractional founders, we put the same hat on as we do when we are building our own ventures – that means from strategy through to execution, and all the operational components along the way, including attracting and managing talent." 

He also stressed that, unlike many VC firms, Disrupt.com is not constrained by external investor expectations or pressure to deliver outsized returns. "With a background in bootstrapping technology ventures to success, we believe our founder-first and revenue-focused approach is different from the growth-at-all-costs VC-backed strategies of the recent past," Aaqib said. "This allows us to take much bigger risks – since we are involved in identifying where things might not work and problem-solving for them. This is a very different approach to one you might see in the traditional world of investing.”  

Aaqib Gadit, Umair Gadit, and Uzair Gadit, co-founders, Disrupt.com. Image courtesy Disrupt.com

He added, “Since we are investing our own capital and resources, we are also not hampered by the expectation of outsized returns that VCs inherit from their investors and then lay on their startups, nor are we driven by the same timelines, as we know how long it can take for some of the best products to scale." 

Disrupt.com has already deployed over $40 million across its portfolio, which includes four growth-stage companies, seven early-stage investments, and AI-focused ventures such as ZigChain, PureSquare, and Squatwolf. Based on the team’s experience, Aaqib tells us that the key to sustainable success for AI startups lies in nimbleness and adaptability. "Like all startups in the tech space, but even more so given the pace of change in AI, founders will need to be highly adaptive to change," Aaqib said. "Therefore, focus on founder quality, their resilience, commercial mindedness and ability to make quick decisions are crucial qualities for success."

Aaqib also revealed to Inc. Arabia what he believes to be key factors to winning in the AI space. "We see early opportunities in AI being rooted in vertical use-cases, which require deep domain knowledge on industry (both technical and commercial) and a focus on deep technical AI-first teams to build world-class solutions," he said. "A culture of speed, experimentation, data moats and providing the most lovable customer/user experience are essential to achieving sustainable success." 

Reflecting on how AI has stayed on headlines in 2024, Aaqib notes that its rapid evolution brings both challenges and opportunities. "As an entrepreneur, you might think you have a unique generative AI solution, only to see someone develop something far more impressive, right under your nose," he said. "We saw this with the way DeepSeek stormed into the world and took everyone’s breath away, including the competition.”  

“We think 2025 might see the beginnings of the industry maturing - the use cases of AI coming to light, the ones that have real potential to improve the way we live our lives and hopefully ones that will make the world a fairer place," he continued. "AI tools can offer the chance for less privileged workers to upskill themselves and hopefully make a living, when previously they may not have been able to. This would be one of the greatest benefits of AI." 

Keeping this premise in mind, Aaqib's advice for founders navigating the evolving AI landscape is to keep looking forward, without losing sight of the present. "We believe that keeping up with the pace of change is at times dizzying, and yet those founders that are not thinking AI-first when building the tech platforms of the future are not going to be the winners of tomorrow," he said. "Our advice to founders is to embrace the change, remain curious, think big, be bold, keeping one eye on today and the other on tomorrow." 

Pictured on image are Aaqib Gadit, Umair Gadit, and Uzair Gadit, co-founders of Disrupt.com. Image courtesy Disrupt.com.