AAF Management Ltd. has closed its $55 million early-stage hybrid fund, The Axis Fund, designed to back emerging managers and their most promising portfolio startups from pre-seed to pre-IPO stages.
This brings the firm’s total assets under management (AUM) to $250 million, a commendable achievement for the Washington, D.C.-based investment firm.
Founded in 2016, AAF has built a reputation for identifying early winners in global tech and innovation. The firm has made 138 direct investments and supported 39 emerging managers across 43 fund vintages.
Its portfolio has already produced five unicorns, Jasper, Current, Flutterwave, Drata, and Hello Heart, alongside 20 successful exits, including TruOptik, MoneyLion, Even Financial, and Portfolium, with a combined enterprise value of $2 billion.
The Axis Fund represents AAF’s fourth vintage and is anchored by Mubadala Capital, as well as a network of family offices spanning the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Other backers include general partners from major U.S.-based asset management firms, a multi-billion-dollar venture capital firm, and a publicly traded company.
What makes The Axis Fund unique is its data-driven strategy. AAF is leveraging its limited partner (LP) relationships with emerging managers to gain access to private market intelligence that isn’t publicly available on platforms like Crunchbase or CB Insights.
This “data licensing” approach allows AAF to identify promising companies before they hit mainstream visibility.
So far, the fund has already invested in 25 pre-seed and seed funds and made five direct investments into early-stage and growth companies. Collectively, the fund’s underlying managers have exposure to around 800 venture-backed companies formed between 2021 and 2025.
Speaking on the fund’s approach, Kyle Hendrick, general partner and managing director, said: “Over the past decade, we have found that the richest dataset of private market companies at the earliest stages of their formation is accessed only through LP checks in emerging managers.
“With The Axis Fund, we are combining our fund-of-funds investing track record along with our Seed track record under one fund umbrella to generate the best risk-adjusted return for our LPs.”
Omar Darwazah, also general partner and managing director, described the model as both broad and selective: “Our two-pronged investing strategy allows our LPs to access a beta product, through the indexing of emerging managers, and an alpha product, through the picking of companies to back at the early stage.
“This strategy allows us to identify signal from noise and increase our probability of backing outliers – fund returners, 10x cash-on-cash returning companies and Seed to Unicorn investments.”
AAF’s model has earned it deep trust among partners and founders alike. Suzanne Fletcher, founder and general partner of Zelda Ventures, commended the firm’s hands-on partnership style:
“The AAF team has been an exceptional partner to Zelda Ventures, both as an investor in the firm’s Fund 1 and as a collaborative co-investor. They not only supported us early but have also continued to engage meaningfully, from investing alongside us in Okahu to flagging opportunities like Originalis.
“AAF’s approach of backing managers and then investing alongside them truly delivers on their mission to build enduring partnerships.”
Similarly, Zaid Rahman, founder and CEO of Flex, noted AAF’s long-term engagement:
“AAF has been an exceptional partner to us. They began building a relationship with me and the company nearly two years before investing. Flex was originally sourced through their LP check in 305 Ventures, and since then, AAF has participated in our Series A and every subsequent financing round.
“We’re excited to continue working with them as both capital formation and business development partners, leveraging their global LP network and deep connectivity across the MENA region.”
AAF’s earlier funds, a $25 million Fund I (2017), a $39 million Fund II (2021), and a $32 million proprietary fund-of-funds vehicle, have always ranked in the top decile for Net TVPI compared with benchmarks from Cambridge Associates and Carta.
With The Axis Fund focused on early-stage startups, AAF is doubling down on its core belief that access and insight drive performance in private markets. Its blend of fund-of-funds and direct investment strategies will support early-stage capital deployment, encompassing patience, information depth, and genuine partnership.
