Saudi Arabia is leading the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in venture capital funding so far this year, according to a new report.
The H1 2023 Saudi Arabia Venture Capital Report has revealed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emerged as the most funded country in the MENA region in terms of VC funding during H1 2023.
The report, published by the venture data platform MAGNiTT and sponsored by SVC, highlights that the Kingdom witnessed a total VC deployment of $446m (SR1.67bn) in the first half of 2023.
Saudi VC funding in 2023
Saudi Arabia accounted for the largest share of total funding in the MENA region during H1 2023, representing 42 per cent of the capital deployed, a significant increase from 31 per cent in 2022.
Moreover, the Kingdom set a new record for MEGA deal funding, with $289m (SR1.08bn) invested across two deals during the first half of 2023.
In H1 2023, the E-Commerce/Retail sector attracted the highest amount of funding and recorded the highest number of deals in the Kingdom.
This sector accounted for 83 per cent of the total funding, aggregating $368m (SR1.38bn) across 11 deals.
Commenting on the report, CEO and board member at SVC Dr. Nabeel Koshak, said: “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, in addition to the emergence of active investors from the private sector as well as innovative entrepreneurs.”
He added: “At SVC we are committed to continue leading 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, which leads to diversifying the national economy and achieving the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030”.
SVC, established in 2018, is a government investment company and a subsidiary of the SME Bank, which is affiliated with the National Development Fund.
With the aim of stimulating and sustaining financing for startups and SMEs, SVC plans to invest $1.6bn by investing in funds and co-investing in startups.
To date, SVC has invested in 43 funds that, in turn, have invested in 674 companies through 1,257 deals.
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