The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund deal with Greek Blueground is moving forward

Abu Dhabi has officially green lighted the deal of the state investment fund ADQ to Blueground.

Essentially, Blueground is a technology company for long-term real estate leasing (prop-tech). While the details of the financial deal were not made public, is is the first deal withst funds from Abu Dhabi came to Greece.

It is worth noting that it is ADQ’s first investment in Greece, within the framework of the bilateral agreement signed with the Hellenic Development Investment Bank for investment cooperation of 4 billion euros, during the Prime Minister’s visit to Abu Dhabi last May.

As the information note of the Office of Economic and Commercial Affairs of the Greek Embassy reveals, the investment was made through DisruptAD, ADQ’s venture capital platform, which was established in 2021, with the aim of providing access to funding to early-stage start-ups, as well as supporting founders from incubation to growth.

Blueground, which was founded in Athens by Alexandros Hatzieleftheriou, operates in 26 cities in Europe, North America and Asia (including Dubai), with a portfolio of approximately 9,500 apartments, while by the end of 2025, it aims to expand the apartment network to 40,000, in 50 cities.

ADQ’s activities

The Fund literally started in 2018 and includes a wide range of activities from Energy and Health to Logistics and the Agri-Food sector. Its most recent move is the full ownership of Etihad Aviation Group – EAG. The transfer of EAG is part of the strategy of ADQ and the local Government of Abu Dhabi to establish the Emirate as a global aviation hub.

Having noted this, the inaugural event of the 3-year co-financed European program EUnique, which aims to promote European (Greek) PDO and PGI products in the UAE and Saudi Arabia market, took place in Dubai. In particular, the Program focuses on the PDO and PGI products of the Region of Central Greece (Katiki Domokou, Feta, Formaella of Arachova, Kiwis from Sperchios, Shelled Pistachio of Fthiotida, Dried Figs of Kymi and Taxiarchis, Canned food of Rovion, Atalanti, Stylida, Amfissa) and Loukoumi Geroskipou, first PGI of Cyprus.

Also read: UAE’s DisruptAD invests in Greek startup Blueground

The Emirate recorded real GDP growth of 11.2% year-on-year in the first half of 2022. The value of GDP exceeded 543 billion dirhams ($147 billion) and the value of non-oil GDP increased by 28.4 billion dirhams compared to the same period last year, reaching 273 billion dirhams in total (+11.6%).

Greek economy

Amer Al Ameri, Head of Venture Capital and Technology Investments at ADQ stated that the investment in Blueground reinforces Abu Dhabi’s commitment to promoting key sectors of the Greek economy, within the framework of the fund’s bilateral agreement with Greece. “The success of disruptive technologies, such as the platform developed by Blueground, will act as a catalyst to accelerate the sustainable development of the Greek economy,” he noted. “With its rapidly growing operations in mature real estate markets worldwide, Blueground has a promising journey ahead, which is matched by its strong leadership team and vision for the company,” he added. “Our partnership will enable us to unlock growth opportunities in line with our goal of delivering strong and sustainable financial returns.”

Blueground founder and CEO Alex Hatzieleftheriou noted that “the investment from DisruptAD will allow us to continue to expand our apartment portfolio around the world, reinventing the way people live by making high-quality apartments available wherever they want, whenever they want. As remote work has created greater flexibility in the workforce, our platform is uniquely positioned to support professionals looking to find a new home in the city of their choice.”