Mohamed Nanabhay, managing partner at Mozilla Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
Mohamed Nanabhay is managing partner of Mozilla Ventures, the corporate VC arm of technology company Mozilla.
Launched in early 2023, Mozilla Ventures invests in early-stage startups (pre-seed and seed stages) working to push the internet and the tech industry in a better direction. It seeks to advance the values in the Mozilla manifesto, including privacy, inclusion, transparency, accessibility and human dignity. The fund’s long-term strategy is to fuel an ecosystem of products and technology that respects users and makes the internet a healthier environment.
Nanabhay has led the CVC since its inception. In a blog post announcing the CVC launch, Mark Surman, president of Mozilla, stated that it was Nanabhay’s decade-long experience of investing in digital media businesses designed to advance democracy and free speech that made him the right person for the role.
“[It] perfectly sets him up for the job ahead – finding and funding founders who have the odds stacked against them and then helping them succeed.”
Prior to this role, Nanabhay was deputy CEO at the Media Development Investment Fund which invests in independent media globally, providing the news, information and debate that people need to build free, thriving societies. He continues to serve on the fund’s investment committee.
“[It] perfectly sets him up for the job ahead – finding and funding founders who have the odds stacked against them and then helping them succeed.”
Mark Surman, president, Mozilla
He spent nearly a decade at news channel Al Jazeera English where he established the New Media department that focused on innovation and product development across internet, mobile and social technologies. He later headed the online team at the channel.
The $35m Mozilla Ventures fund invests in B2B and B2C startups globally and has 42 companies in its portfolio. Recent investments include Plastic Labs, maker of an AI infrastructure platform for developers; Musubi, a platform using AI to moderate online content; and Trail, a developer of AI legal compliance software.
Nanabhay served as a board member of the Mozilla Foundation from 2017 to 2022. He founded listings and community website QatarLiving.com and co-founded Signalnoi.se, a social analytics platform for newsrooms. He also invests in companies with disruptive technologies.
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
