Key Takeaways
- • Emerging manager Suhail Ahmad, through Hikmah Capital, is preparing a USD200 million ethical AI hedge fund designed to capture long-term AI infrastructure upside while using quantitative methods and hedging to suppress volatility and avoid significant drawdowns.
- • Ahmad targets raising up to USD5 million in common equity for the management company, with a goal of USD5 million to USD20 million in seed capital in place by February or March, followed by the full USD200 million fund raise.
- • The fund is to be structured as a proper hedge fund domiciled in the BVI or Cayman Islands depending on anchor investors, with data center and AI exposure gained entirely through liquid, publicly listed equities.
- • Ahmad cites a 2010 to 2014 real-money proprietary track record, with one negative year (minus 1%), as the basis for the strategy, which he says was constrained to small and micro caps and therefore could not scale.
- • The firm is operating as a lean, decentralized, capital-light structure with an agentic AI research process and contracted specialists, and has not yet launched a fund.
Summary
Suhail Ahmad, a former pensions and investment banking professional with roughly 15 years of experience developing quantitative strategies, is preparing an ethical AI fund, according to an interview with Matthias Knab of Opalesque for New Managers. Ahmad argues that many investors remain on the sidelines because of AI sector volatility, in which daily moves of 5% to 10% in individual stocks have become routine. His stated objective is a strategy that captures the long-term upside of the AI buildout while limiting drawdowns. He described the fund as macro-driven, investing in companies expected to benefit from the "AI Supercycle" and using quantitative methods and hedging to dampen volatility. He said the cycle is two or three years in, with 10 to 15 years of expected duration.
The firm is at the startup stage. Ahmad said data center exposure will come through publicly listed companies, with some pre-IPO or listing-stage companies under discussion. He said the strategy will be entirely liquid. The planned vehicle is a USD200 million hedge fund domiciled in the BVI or Cayman Islands, with the management company, Hikmah Capital, raising up to USD5 million in common equity. Ahmad plans to produce audited financials after December 31 and to create a publicly listed investment issuer. The timeline calls for commitments from seed investors and expressions of interest and non-binding term sheets by year end, with USD5 million to USD20 million in preferred-equity seed capital targeted by February or March.
Ahmad's track record covers a proprietary strategy run with real money from Q1 2010 to Q4 2014, published on SiAlpha.com as "sustainable intelligent alpha." The approach combined value and momentum, focusing on catalyst-driven short-term gains in small and micro caps of roughly USD50 million to USD1 billion in market cap, with one negative year at minus 1%. Ahmad said the strategy was not scalable: investors and allocators told him the approach would struggle to deploy seven or eight figures without moving prices, so no fund was launched in 2015. He said AI tools that became accessible after ChatGPT's 2022 release allowed the team to extend the universe to mega caps and remove capacity constraints.
The team is distributed across multiple locations. Charlie Robson leads business development from Abu Dhabi, and Aisha Elahi handles marketing and investor relations. Dr. Hatim Zaghloul, a Canadian entrepreneur and physicist, is chairman and is based in Cairo. Stuart Jamieson, software architect, sits on the board and leads IT strategy from Singapore and Taiwan. Dr. Hussein Amery chairs the advisory board and leads corporate development from Calgary. Ahmad, who is based near London, runs day-to-day research and analytics with an agentic AI system and contracted specialists. Ahmad described this model as deliberately lean and capital-light, aimed at giving the firm global market access and local regional insight.
The firm is at the startup stage. Ahmad said data center exposure will come through publicly listed companies, with some pre-IPO or listing-stage companies under discussion. He said the strategy will be entirely liquid. The planned vehicle is a USD200 million hedge fund domiciled in the BVI or Cayman Islands, with the management company, Hikmah Capital, raising up to USD5 million in common equity. Ahmad plans to produce audited financials after December 31 and to create a publicly listed investment issuer. The timeline calls for commitments from seed investors and expressions of interest and non-binding term sheets by year end, with USD5 million to USD20 million in preferred-equity seed capital targeted by February or March.
Ahmad's track record covers a proprietary strategy run with real money from Q1 2010 to Q4 2014, published on SiAlpha.com as "sustainable intelligent alpha." The approach combined value and momentum, focusing on catalyst-driven short-term gains in small and micro caps of roughly USD50 million to USD1 billion in market cap, with one negative year at minus 1%. Ahmad said the strategy was not scalable: investors and allocators told him the approach would struggle to deploy seven or eight figures without moving prices, so no fund was launched in 2015. He said AI tools that became accessible after ChatGPT's 2022 release allowed the team to extend the universe to mega caps and remove capacity constraints.
The team is distributed across multiple locations. Charlie Robson leads business development from Abu Dhabi, and Aisha Elahi handles marketing and investor relations. Dr. Hatim Zaghloul, a Canadian entrepreneur and physicist, is chairman and is based in Cairo. Stuart Jamieson, software architect, sits on the board and leads IT strategy from Singapore and Taiwan. Dr. Hussein Amery chairs the advisory board and leads corporate development from Calgary. Ahmad, who is based near London, runs day-to-day research and analytics with an agentic AI system and contracted specialists. Ahmad described this model as deliberately lean and capital-light, aimed at giving the firm global market access and local regional insight.
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