Abbas Kazmi

Abbas Kazmi is a multi-award-winning serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist who founded his first successful company at age 16. He is an academic scholar from Westminster School and New College, Oxford University, where he read History and earned both an MA and MBA. His remarkable career spans prestigious financial institutions, entrepreneurship, and venture capital, establishing him as one of Europe's youngest and most accomplished VC fund managers.

Before entering venture capital full-time, Abbas built an impressive foundation in finance, working at Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and BlackRock. At BlackRock, he worked across EMEA and the US, contributing to the launch of the firm's first impact-focused internal accelerator and BlackRock's inaugural FinTech acquisition. This experience at the world's largest asset manager provided him with deep insights into institutional investment and emerging technology sectors.

Abbas subsequently co-founded Collegiate Capital, raising $100 million for the VC fund focused on fintech, cybersecurity, energy, and gaming. At age 24, he became Europe's youngest founder and managing partner of a VC fund of that size. He has since co-founded multiple venture funds including BlackWood Ventures, SABAH.fund (the first VC fund bridging Central Asia and MENA, with $11M first close toward a $25M target), and Kerdos Ventures, where he currently serves as Partner. He also founded the Oxford Accelerator, a business incubator hosted by Oxford University, and serves as Chairman of the Oxford Guild, the world's largest university society.

His achievements have earned him extraordinary recognition. He was selected as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Standout across multiple categories (global magazine edition, European edition, Finance list, Youngest list, and Middle Eastern edition in 2017) and has been honored as a Maserati 100 honoree, Great British Entrepreneur Awards winner, United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Fellow, World Economic Forum Global Shaper, and Aspen Institute UK Rising Leaders Fellow. He is also one of the youngest fellows at the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA) and a Helena Group Fellow.

Abbas currently holds prestigious academic appointments as an Entrepreneurship Expert at Oxford University's Saïd Business School and Investor-in-Residence at London Business School. He is actively involved in policy, advising parliamentary groups on metaverse and Web3 issues, and serves as Co-Founder of The Horizon Institute. His personal interests include supporting emerging markets and bridging investment opportunities between Europe, Central Asia, and MENA regions.

Abbas Kazmi focuses predominantly on early-stage investments, targeting pre-seed to Series A rounds. His investment philosophy centers on backing exceptional founders building transformative technology companies, with particular emphasis on sectors where he has deep domain expertise and network advantages. He demonstrates strong conviction investing, often leading or co-leading rounds and taking board positions to provide hands-on support.

Sector Focus:

Geographic Focus:

Investment Approach: Abbas values founders with technical excellence, market insight, and mission-driven ambition. He looks for companies operating in large addressable markets with defensible competitive advantages and clear paths to scalability. His due diligence emphasizes both commercial viability and potential for positive societal impact. As an active investor, he provides portfolio companies with strategic guidance, network introductions, operational support, and follow-on capital coordination. His notable strength lies in sourcing unique opportunities outside traditional VC networks—his Spring Health investment exemplifies this, where he single-handedly sourced and managed the first institutional investment external to Yale.

Through his multiple funds (Kerdos Ventures, Collegiate Capital, BlackWood Ventures, and SABAH.fund), Abbas can accommodate investments ranging from $500K to $5M, with flexibility to structure deals creatively across different stages and geographies.

• FinTech and Financial Services
• CleanTech and ESG/Impact investing
• Digital Health and Healthcare Technology
• EdTech and Learning Platforms
• Cybersecurity
• Gaming
• Energy and Renewable Energy (asset-backed projects)
• Emerging Technologies (AI, Web3, Metaverse)
• Primary: United Kingdom and Europe (EMEA)
• Expansion: Central Asia and MENA regions (through SABAH.fund)
• North America (selective opportunities)