Qatar last year signaled it wanted to be a much bigger investor in tech when its $475 billion sovereign wealth fund backed Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. Now, the war between Israel and Hamas—a Palestinian terrorist group with ties to Qatar—may hamper those ambitions.
The petroleum-rich Persian Gulf nation has been trying to follow in the footsteps of neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have long invested in marquee companies such as Uber and Cruise. It’s been preparing a glitzy conference for tech founders and venture capitalists in the capital of Doha this coming February, where partners at venture capital firms including Coatue Management and 500 Startups were scheduled to speak. Coatue and others abruptly canceled those plans this week.
