Christos is the Founder & Managing Partner of Iliad Partners, a venture capital firm based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Iliad invests in early-stage technology companies in the MENA region, with a focus on Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Greek startups expanding into the MENA region in verticals including fintech, logistics, and proptech. Iliad’s current fund is backed by leading institutional investors PIF’s Jada Fund of Funds, the Olayan family, Greek systemic banks, and prominent family offices in the GCC and Europe. Founded in 2016 by Christos and Omar Al-Madhi, two MIT classmates, Iliad was an early contributor to MENA’s startup ecosystem. Christos brings over 25 years of global investment, startup, and operating experience across venture capital, technology business development, entrepreneurship, and management consulting. He has spent the past 18 years in the UAE, after living in Boston, New York, Washington D.C., and Athens, Greece earlier in his career. Prior to Iliad Partners, he was Head of Business Development at Yahoo! in Dubai, where he led strategic partnerships following Yahoo’s acquisition of Maktoob, MENA’s largest internet portal at the time. Before that, he was an Engagement Manager with the Telecom, Media & Technology (TMT) practice at Booz & Company (now Strategy&), advising Boards and C-suite executives at telecom groups, investment firms, and SWFs across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia on corporate strategy, corporate development, M&A, strategic investments, portfolio management, and digital ventures. As a tech entrepreneur, Christos has co-founded and exited multiple startups, including GlamBox (Dubai), SloanGear (Boston) as well as Upstream (Athens) and govWorks (New York) in which he held operating roles. He is a Founding Board Member of the Middle East Venture Capital Association (MEVCA) and the Hellenic Business Council of the UAE (HBC) and serves as the Chair of HBC’s Finance Chapter. He also serves on the boards of the MIT Alumni Club of the UAE and several startups, and is active with Hub71’s Selection Committee, Endeavor UAE and Greece, and was a Founding Advisory Board Member of MAGNiTT. Christos holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a B.S. in International Relations from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.