A new historic achievement… Saudi Arabia is the top country in MENA for venture capital investment in 2023

Riyadh – Safar News

Saudi Arabia achieves first rank across MENA for the first time in terms of the amount of Venture Capital (VC) funding in 2023, according to MAGNiTT, the MENA-based venture data platform. This historic achievement reflects the development the Kingdom is witnessing in various economic and financial sectors in light of the Saudi Vision 2030 and its goals to strengthen the national economy.

The Kingdom captured the highest share of total VC funding in the MENA region in 2023, accounting for 52% of the total capital deployed in the region, up from 31% in 2022. The funding deployed into Saudi Arabian startups grew by 33% in 2023 versus 2022. This confirms the attractiveness of the Saudi market, enhances its competitive environment, and consolidates the strength of the Kingdom’s economy as the largest economy in MENA, and its leading position globally as a G20 country, and a member of the “BRICS” group, which represents one of the strongest economic blocs in the world.

Dr. Nabeel Koshak, CEO and Board Member at SVC, commented: “The Kingdom’s leading position in the VC scene in the region comes as a result of the many governmental initiatives launched to stimulate the VC and startups ecosystem within the Saudi Vision 2030 programs, and the development of the legislative and regulatory environment for the ecosystem, in addition to the emergence of active investors from the private sector as well as innovative entrepreneurs”.

He further added: “We are proud that SVC’s strategy contributed to the development of the VC ecosystem in the Kingdom, as it was ranked fourth in the region in terms of the amount of VC funding in 2018, to be the top country in the region in 2023. The funding deployed into Saudi Arabian startups grew 21 times in 2023 versus 2018, the year SVC was launched. We at SVC are committed to continuing to lead the development of the VC ecosystem in Saudi Arabia through stimulating private investors to provide support in turn for startups and SMEs to be capable of fast and high growth, leading to diversifying the national economy and achieving the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030”.

SVC is an investment company established in 2018. It is a subsidiary of the SME Bank, one of the development banks affiliated with the National Development Fund. SVC aims to stimulate and sustain financing for startups and SMEs from pre-Seed to pre-IPO through investment in funds and co-investment in startups and SMEs.