Saudi Arabia is fast emerging as a hot destination for accelerator programmes as the country’s start-up ecosystem rapidly evolves, a leading investment expert said.
The country has also seen more senior corporate leaders take the plunge into entrepreneurship.
“There has been a significant increase in the number of accelerator programmes [in the country] in the last three years,” Abdullah Alaraj, co-founder and chairman of Riyadh Angel Investors (RAI), a Saudi-based angel network, told Arabian Business.
“While we have seen a number of accelerator programmes by semi-government entities, like Badir in the past, there has been an influx of several internationally known entities to Saudi Arabia of late to organise these programmes,” Alaraj said.
InspireU by STC, Misk-500 program, Sanabil-500 and Wadi Makkah Venture are among the accelerator programmes organised or announced in Saudi Arabia recently.
“The trend [on accelerator programmes has been started locally by Badir, and then we have seen international entities are interested to explore and benefit from the current interest,” said Alaraj who is also a managing partner of the Saudi-focused venture capital Nama Ventures.
Abdullah Alaraj, co-founder and chairman of Riyadh Angel Investors (RAI)
Alaraj, a Silicon Valley veteran, also said the accelerator programmes have benefitted the start-up ecosystem in Saudi Arabia, providing investment and mentorship to several start-ups – seeded locally and from the broader Middle East.
The RAI chairman, however, said their network has no plans to get into organising accelerator programmes.
“Riyadh Angels is a pure angel network. We have, however, started signing memorandum of understandings with some accelerator programs to have early access to start-ups,” Alaraj said.
Saudi Arabia has emerged as a preferred destination for start-ups in the region, and the Techstars managing director Vijay Tirathrai previously told Arabian Business that the kingdom was among the prime locations the platform would launch its accelerator programme. Techstars runs around 50 accelerator programmes around the world.
Vijay Tirathrai, managing director of the Techstars
On the trend of corporate executives taking to entrepreneurship, especially during the pandemic, Alaraj said this trend was also catching on in Saudi Arabia.
“We are observing that more and more senior executives are interested in the entrepreneurial route in Saudi too,” Alaraj said, adding that the rising number of accelerator programmes is bound to give further impetus to this trend.
Saudi Arabia recorded a 35 percent year-on-year increase in the number of investment deals in the technology start-up sector alone last year, according to a report by Magnitt. The country accounted for 18 percent of the 496 investment deals across the Middle East and North Africa last year.
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