Jabbar Internet Group

Samih Toukan, Chairman and CEO, and Hussam Khoury, President, make all investment decisions. The two have worked together since co-founding Maktoob in the late 1990s and operate without an external investment committee. Their decision-making is informed by direct operational experience — both have served as co-founders and board chairs at multiple Jabbar portfolio companies.

Jabbar is funded entirely by the personal liquidity of Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury, generated from the 2009 Maktoob sale to Yahoo and the 2017 Souq.com sale to Amazon. The firm does not raise external committed funds and has no limited partners, which allows indefinite holding periods and flexible check sizes.

Jabbar concentrates on the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt — the four largest technology markets in the Arabic-speaking world. The firm's Saudi and Emirati deals tend to be co-investments with institutional partners, while Jordanian and Egyptian positions often reflect earlier, operator-heavy engagements where Toukan or Khoury take board seats.

Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury co-founded both companies. Maktoob was the Arab world's leading web portal when Yahoo acquired it in 2009; Souq.com grew to become the region's largest e-commerce platform before Amazon acquired it in 2017. Jabbar Internet Group was the entity through which the founders held their ownership stakes in both ventures.

Jabbar operates as a hybrid — legally a Dubai-based single-family office structure for the Toukan and Khoury principals, but functionally a venture builder. The principals take co-founder and chairman roles at select portfolio companies, making them far more operationally involved than a typical family office CIO or even a GP at a venture capital firm.

Tiger Global Management and Middle East Venture Partners are recurring co-investors on Jabbar-backed deals, per the firm's official communications. Tiger Global participated in the later-stage rounds of both Maktoob and Souq.com during Jabbar's early history. The firm occasionally syndicates alongside UHNW networks accessed through Toukan's UBS Industry Leaders Network membership.

Yes. The Samih Toukan Scholarship Fund supports Jordanian students, and the principals back Tadamon, a civic organization. These structures are personally funded and legally separate from Jabbar Internet Group's investment balance sheet.