Abbas Kazmi

He has been recognised as a Forbes 30Under30 Standout, as a Maserati100, as one of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards Entrepreneurs' Champions of the Year, and as one of StartupsUK’s Young Entrepreneurs of the Year and Business Growth Enablers of the Year, to name just a few amongst many other awards.

Ex-BlackRock working across EMEA and the US, Abbas co-founded both the Oxford Accelerator and Collegiate Capital, and is an Investment Committee member of, advisor to and LP investor in several VC funds in EMEA including BlackWood Ventures. He is now co-founder of the first impact VC firm between MENA, Israel and Palestine, following the Abraham Accords. Abbas has also been appointed a United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Fellow and World Economic Forum Global Shaper. 

Passionate about blockchain, the metaverse, and AI technologies, Abbas has been in the space since 2014, investing in and building many exciting projects. He advises the UK Government as a co-founding Advisory Board Member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Metaverse and Web 3.0 and several Azerbaijani government ministries through SABAH.Hub. He was also recognised and selected by the UAE's Vice-President and Deputy Prime Minister, Sheikh Mansour, as an Arab Youth Pioneer.

Abbas sits on the boards of several companies and organisations, often being called upon to share his insights and expertise. As Chairman of The Oxford Guild, the largest university society in the world, Abbas has hosted numerous high-profile guests, including major CEOs, celebrities and Nobel laureates from Sam Altman and Kanye West to Woody Harrelson, Malala etc. He is the co-founder of the Horizon Global Network, the All In start-up diversity pledge, the Distributed Funding platform, the Global Fintech & Blockchain Conference, Europe2SiliconValley Trip and the Spirited Network Covid-19 relief non-profit platform.

Abbas was an academic scholar both at Westminster School and Oxford University and is a VC Fellow at London Business School’s Newton Venture Program. He has guest lectured and taught at Oxford, Cambridge, LBS, LSE, UCL, INSEAD and more. Abbas regularly judges leading start-up competitions such as MIT InnovatorsUnder35 and speaks at top universities and conferences globally such as during the World Economic Forum Annual Summit at Davos, Forbes 30Under30 Summit, Milken Institute MENA Summit, World Government Summit and many more.

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