Dubai: A $10 billion global investment fund focused on AI and based out of Abu Dhabi?

If Shahal Khan, CEO of Burkhan World Investments, has his way, that could soon turn into a reality, with funding of AI advances remaining a major focal point for the present and immediate future. Even if China’s DeepSeek has added an element of doubt with its cheaper AI version.

Khan, however, will not be distracted. He intends to have the fund registered in ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market) and expects to raise $3 billion of the planned $10 billion outlay from own resources.

“We will be competing against China and others who will be dedicating funds and with all those companies looking to drive innovation,” said Khan. “As we have seen with DeepSeek, AI is a fast moving market with new developments daily. I am sure DeepSeek is one of many, many companies funded in China, and China put it out in the market at the right time.”

Khan's name has been associated with a deal for The Plaza New York. The famed New York hotel once had Donal Trump as the owner, while India’s Sahara Group sold it off in 2018. It's now the Qatar's Katara Hospitality. (Khan had taken a stake in the hotel and then flipped it.)

Another major Khan venture has been Global Voice Telecom, billed as the ‘first licensed wholesale international VOI provider’. Burkhan World Investments operates as a family office.  

Now, he believes that getting into AI – and going in big – will pay off. On whether raising $10 billion for an AI fund isn’t on the higher side, Khan said: “In reality, the fund is not as large as it seems as it is a development fund which will have around 20 investments; with each investment worth around $500 million.

“This shows that it is not large if you look at it that way – as it is not just one AI company concentrated into just a few data centres. We have a pipeline of projects in American and Southeast Asia, which is the first step in building an infrastructure and then each investment charging governments and companies for the service.”

The reason why ADGM  is seen as the base for the fund is because its developing ‘some very interesting equity tools like synthetic tokens, and also equity to the public market and bond instruments’, said Khan.

“We believe right now that  with everything going on within the US and China, the UAE could be a middle ground for companies to come and set up and take advantage of financial markets and funding in an open environment.”

The type of investors who could join the fund are those ‘having a minimum net worth of double billion plus’.

“We are not looking for institutional capital - it's too slow,” added Khan. “Some of the family offices we are bringing in have significant balance-sheets and understand this strategy, which is how I set up BWI.”

The fund, when it gets going, is targeting returns of around 10% to 15%, which is ‘massive in the context of the capital being raised’.

“This will be compounded over a 10-year period,” said Khan. “We think a lot of the returns will come from growth outside the GCC in markets like Africa, Pakistan, India.”

Other UAE and Gulf based funds and private equity operators too have been eyeing AI laden investment prospects. For many, the issue has been whether they will end up paying too high a premium for entry and then end up not getting anywhere near the anticipated returns.

This is where the DeepSeek dynamic had its biggest say in dictating investment trends. "Hopefully, there will be a re-pricing of AI facing investments if cheaper AI models are available in the market," said a private equity industry source. "Let's see."

According to Khan, the AI space needs its funding now. "It's going to be completely rapid and fast and quick and that is why we are operating as a family office," he added. "We have the mentality of moving quickly in order to solve the problem and having the money immediately. Large Sovereign Wealth Funds can take up to 2 years to make a decision to deploy capital, in which time the key deals will have gone..."

More to come…