Who we work with
Built for founders. Working with the right partners.
Universities & innovation hubs
Partner on buildathons. Build real pipelines for your student ventures.
Bring real corporate challenges and thematic topics into your university. Measure commercial outcomes, not just participation rates.
Founders
Hackathon win, thesis project, or accelerator grad.
We take you from prototype to GCC pilot.
GCC investors & family offices
Deal flow sourced from top universities.
Founders identified before they enter the market or broader investor networks.
Programs
Three ways we deploy
Every AvenirX program compresses the distance between a European university founder and a GCC deployment opportunity.
Buildathon & venture sprint
A two-day inter-university buildathon around AI for Smarter Buildings, followed by a 6-week venture sprint and September demo day.
Scout program
Embedded scouts across HEC Paris, Imperial, ETH Zurich, Bocconi and other leading European universities, surfacing the best pre-seed founders before they're on anyone's radar.
Incubator partnerships
AvenirX acts as strategic operating partner for university incubators, co-designing hackathons with government challenge partners and structuring post-program pipelines to GCC pilots.
Venture advisory
For founders who are serious about raising. Not just preparing for it.
AvenirX works with a small number of companies at any one time. Primarily European startups entering the GCC, and select founders who are close to raising but need sharper positioning, stronger financial clarity, and real investor access.
This is hands-on, founder-side work. Not slides, not theory.
We focus on the moments that actually move a company forward:
- ▶Refining the narrative investors buy into
- ▶Structuring entry into the GCC market
- ▶Getting in front of the right capital and partners
Built on seven years across venture capital, early-stage operations, and deal-making in Paris and Dubai, with direct access to founders, investors, and operators across both regions.
Engagements are selective and tied to a clear outcome. If there is no credible path to that outcome, we don't engage.
Current availability: Q2 2025
We work with 2 to 3 companies at a time. One slot is currently open. If the fit is right, we move fast.
GCC market entry
Entity setup, regulatory navigation, first commercial contracts, and warm introductions to pilot partners — not theory, done deals.
Fundraising strategy
Deck positioning, financial model build, and investor narrative from someone who has evaluated 400+ decks and closed rounds himself.
Fractional CFO
Revenue modelling, unit economics, board-ready reporting. A commercially experienced operator in the room, not a spreadsheet template.
Investor introductions
Direct intros to family offices, sovereign LPs, and EU VCs built over seven years. Through relationships, not cold email.
Institutional partners
EU & GCC ecosystem
About
Rohan Bansal
Founder & Managing Director, AvenirX Labs
Operator working between European talent and Gulf capital.
Rohan is a venture capital practitioner working between European talent and Gulf capital, with 7+ years of experience across investing, founder execution, and market expansion.
He was the first employee at a Paris-based VC fund, where he helped build the investment thesis, led dealflow, and supported the deployment of over €50M, including sourcing and leading the fund's investment in eToro prior to its NASDAQ listing. He has evaluated 400+ startups across sectors, developing a strong lens for identifying high-potential founders and common execution gaps.
Alongside investing, he has worked hands-on with early-stage startups and as a Venture Partner at a Parisian venture studio, supporting founders on go-to-market, executive hiring, and scaling from prototype to commercial traction.
He has also raised capital himself, leading a seven-figure round for a blockchain venture, and has since advised 20+ founders on fundraising strategy, financial modelling, and expansion into the GCC.
Through close work with founders, universities, and early-stage teams, he identified a consistent gap between strong innovation and real-world execution. He is now building AvenirX Labs to create structured execution pathways that take founders from prototype to pilot, and from pilot to market.
"AvenirX Labs bridges university innovation and GCC market demand, converting student-led ideas into pilot-ready ventures with structured execution support."
Insights
The AvenirX Dispatch
Analysis
Missiles over Dubai, Business as Usual
How UAE economic resilience and institutional depth kept capital flows intact through the Iran-UAE conflict, and what it signals for GCC expansion timing.
Read on Substack →Series
Building in Motion, Lausanne, Paris, Milan, Strasbourg
A four-part series on building AvenirX from the road, the university ecosystems, the relationships, and what the EU↔GCC opportunity actually looks like up close.
Read on Substack →Subscribe
Weekly intelligence on venture and the EU, GCC corridor
Capital flows, ecosystem moves, and founder opportunities, direct to your inbox every week.
Ready to turn your project
into a GCC pilot?
Whether you're a student or early founder ready to build, a university looking to create real pipelines, or a company seeking GCC entry or capital.
Subscribe to the AvenirX Dispatch
Operator notes on venture, execution, and building between Europe and the GCC.
