Saudi Aramco’s $500 million venture capital fund, Wa’ed Ventures, intends to invest $100 million in early-stage AI businesses.
In order to find prospective investments and hasten the localization of the AI sector in the kingdom, it has created an advisory council composed of leading experts in the field. Experts from Meta, Amazon, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Oxford are on the board.
Anas Algahtani, interim CEO of Wa’ed Ventures, stated, “This investment will not only incentivize local entrepreneurs but also support the localization of global talent, ultimately unlocking the immense potential of AI.”
With a $15 million investment in Rebellions, a South Korean AI chipmaker, and a $6.5 million fundraising round for aiXplain, a US AI infrastructure business, Wa’ed Ventures has begun allocating funds to the AI industry.
Eight of the company’s 70 companies, including projects from as far back as 2015, are AI startups, according to the company’s website.
According to a statement issued by the business on Sunday, the fund would help “position the kingdom as a global AI hub, generating a strong pipeline of global early-stage AI startups.”
According to PwC, artificial intelligence (AI) could boost the Saudi economy by $135 billion by 2030, or almost 12% of GDP.
Compared to more established markets like the UAE, which often place a greater emphasis on M&A activity, Saudi Arabia’s sizable population can offer early-stage firms the opportunity to grow and scale with relative ease.
Saudi Arabia competes for Mena No. 1 by investing in startups.
Saudi Arabia “takes the lead in pitching tech to venture capital.”
Saudi investors established a $200 million fund for Gulf businesses.
Saudi Arabia has made a concerted attempt to draw in entrepreneurs from a variety of industries. In 2023, it provided $428 million in venture capital funding for e-commerce alone, and it had previously awarded $888 million to businesses in the gaming, digital payments, and artificial intelligence sectors.
According to a third-quarter report by Dubai-based venture capital monitoring platform Magnitt, the Middle East and North Africa venture capital industry raised $1.3 billion between January and September 2024, with Saudi Arabia obtaining approximately 40% of the total funds.