Artificial Intelligence Saudi Aramco’s VC unit to invest $100m in AI startups By Carla Sertin October 29, 2024, 7:46 AM Sofiia Shunkina/Alamy via Reuters Connect The investment fund from Wa'ed Ventures is designed to incentivise local entrepreneurs and attract talent from around the world Wa’ed Ventures appoints advisers Plan to support localisation Eight AI startups in portfolio Wa’ed Ventures, the $500 million venture capital fund owned by Saudi Aramco, plans to invest $100 million in early-stage artificial intelligence startups. It has appointed an advisory board made up of AI leaders to source promising investment and accelerate localisation of the AI industry in the kingdom. The board includes experts with experience at Meta, Amazon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Oxford. “This investment will not only incentivise local entrepreneurs but also support the localisation of global talent, ultimately unlocking the immense potential of AI,” said Anas Algahtani, acting chief executive of Wa’ed Ventures. Wa’ed Ventures has started deploying capital in the AI sector, including a $15 million investment in South Korean AI chipmaker Rebellions and a $6.5 million fundraising round for US AI infrastructure startup aiXplain. According to the company’s website, out of its portfolio of 70 companies, eight are AI startups, including ventures from as far back as 2015. The fund will aid in “positioning the kingdom as a global AI hub, generating a strong pipeline of global early-stage AI startups”, according to a statement released by the company on Sunday. PwC estimates that AI could contribute $135 billion to the Saudi economy by 2030, representing around 12 percent of GDP. Saudi Arabia’s large population can provide early-stage startups with potential to expand and scale with relative ease compared to more mature markets such as the UAE, which tend to have a stronger focus on M&A activity. Saudi Arabia pumps funding into startups as it vies for Mena No 1 Saudi Arabia ‘leads in luring venture capital to tech’ $200m fund for Gulf startups launched by Saudi investors Saudi Arabia has made dedicated efforts to attract startups across sectors – it previously offered $888 million to companies in the digital payments, gaming and artificial intelligence fields, and its venture capital funding in ecommerce alone hit $428 million in 2023. From January to September 2024, the VC market across the Middle East and North Africa raised $1.3 billion, with Saudi Arabia securing nearly 40 percent of total funding, according to a third quarter report by Dubai-based venture capital analysis platform Magnitt.