The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has successfully drawn in an impressive $888 million in investment commitments as a result of the global tech gathering known as LEAP 24.
This significant financial injection spans across venture capital allocations and new infusions of capital into burgeoning start-ups, with the overarching aim to bolster technological innovation and entrepreneurial ventures within the region. This development was reported by the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on a recent Tuesday.
Highlighting the investments, InvestCorp revealed the creation of a robust $500 million fund, dedicated to supporting the expansion of Saudi-based enterprises in their mature stages.
In a combined effort, the National Development Fund and the Social Development Bank unveiled the $40 million Gaming and Esports Investment Fund, which will be administered by Impact46. Additionally, Merak Capital has introduced an $80 million fund aimed at propelling game accelerators within the kingdom’s borders.
Takamol Holdings, a Saudi entity, has also launched a $50 million fund to aid early-stage companies. Furthermore, Plug and Play alongside X by Unifonic have both announced their respective funds designed to nurture technology start-ups and provide business software services to nascent enterprises.
On the start-up front, collective fundraising efforts have reached a total of $53.4 million in investments.
The beneficiaries of these funds are primarily Saudi-based firms such as BRKZ, an international IT company which has secured $8 million in Series A funding; FanZ, an AI-powered sports technology venture with $1.5 million in pre-seed funding; and Lawazem, an online business-to-business supplies platform that has also secured $8 million, among others.