Shorooq and Presight Announce Strategic Investment in Maven Robotics to Pioneer Next-Generation Industrial AI
Shorooq, the leading regional multi-strategy investment firm, and Presight (ADX: PRESIGHT), the global leader in applied AI for intelligent systems and a G42 company, have announced a joint investment in Maven Robotics, an intelligent industrial robotics company building the world’s first multi-purpose robotics system. The investment was executed through the Presight-Shorooq AI Fund and the Bedaya Fund—both managed by Shorooq—alongside RoboStrategy, LocalGlobe, Vine Ventures, and XTX Ventures.
Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Maven designs, builds, and deploys intelligent robots serving the logistics and manufacturing sectors. The startup began operations focusing on mixed palletizing and container handling, an estimated $80 billion market. Maven’s robots are already operating up to 16 hours a day at customer sites with over 99% reliability. The company plans to build 250 units of its third-generation machines as it scales into the multi-billion-dollar warehouse automation market.
Maven perfectly embodies the type of companies Shorooq was established to support: a founder tackling a tangible, real-world problem on a global scale, where applied AI transforms automation from a research concept into active operational infrastructure. This vision—backing companies that bring AI out of screens and into the physical world—is what drew Shorooq to the deal.
"The first wave of AI reshaped how we process information; the next wave will reshape how the physical economy operates, which is a much bigger prize," said Dr. Bilal Baloch, Partner at Shorooq. "What sets Maven apart is that Hamza and his team are not chasing research benchmarks—they are solving one industrial problem after another with the discipline and focus on ROI that real operators demand. Backing a company like this, connecting Abu Dhabi to Silicon Valley, is exactly what it means to invest at the frontier, from the region to the world."
The investment also reflects a deliberate pairing of capital and capabilities. While Shorooq brings its investment discipline and proven track record in company building, Presight contributes deep expertise in applied AI and access to one of the world's most robust AI ecosystems and computing capacities via G42. This strategic advantage is designed to help portfolio companies scale faster than what capital alone can achieve.
For Presight, the investment aligns with its focus on applying intelligence to solve complex operational challenges.
Thomas Pramotedham, CEO of Presight, said: "AI creates true value when it operates reliably in the environments where companies do business. Maven applies intelligence to the physical work of moving and handling goods, where performance is measured by operational outcomes. Through the Presight-Shorooq AI Fund, we aim to support companies like Maven with the capital, applied AI expertise, and relationships that can help them scale. This investment reflects our belief that the true value of intelligence is realized through its application."
Maven's approach has enabled it to win business against competitors whose robots have been on the market for years. Its founding team comprises seasoned experts in AI, robotics, engineering, and autonomous systems software—representing a rare group capable of solving the data pipeline challenge that allows hardware to learn from real-world operations. The fresh capital will fund the completion of its third-generation fleet and the design of a fourth generation, as the company expands from palletizing into broader materials handling.
For Maven’s founder, this backing brings partners who understand both the technology and the region's ambition to lead it globally.
"We are not in a race to build the biggest model—we are in a race to solve the industrial labor shortage and make this work possible at the scale the world needs," said Hamza Derbas, CEO and Co-founder of Maven Robotics. "Shorooq and Presight recognized this from the very first conversation. Alongside capital, they offer an integrated ecosystem—spanning computing power, data, and relationships with major enterprises—that helps us deploy faster and reach customers we might not have accessed on our own. We also view the region as a launching pad to take our robots to the rest of the world."
This investment adds to a growing portfolio of frontier technology companies backed by Shorooq, which invests in category-leading AI and deep tech firms globally, seamlessly connecting them to capital networks, computational power, and major enterprises within the UAE’s rapidly expanding AI ecosystem.














