An Abu Dhabi state-owned investment company has been an investor in Israeli cyberweapon maker NSO Group since 2019, during which time NSO’s Pegasus spyware has been traced to the phones of journalists, human rights activists and the estranged wife of Dubai’s ruler.
Mubadala Capital, a unit of the $243bn fund chaired by Abu Dhabi’s crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, is one of the largest investors in the €1bn private equity fund that bought NSO three years ago, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
Mubadala’s €50mn commitment to the Novalpina Capital private equity fund — agreed in 2017 before the fund acquired NSO — means the Emirati government’s money was used to buy a significant Israeli cyberweapon manufacturer even before the two countries signed a peace accord in August 2020.