Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC) oversees SAR 11.3 bn (USD 3 bn) in assets under management, according to the company’s Impact Report (pdf) for January 2025. The report aims to assess government-owned SVC’s efforts to stimulate the Kingdom’s VC landscape.

By the numbers: SVC has committed a total of SAR 3.7 bn in investments between its inception in 2018 and the end of 2024, backing 54 funds in total. Partners in funds where SVC is an anchor investor — owning 10% or more — committed an additional SAR 14.4 bn. Meanwhile, total capital deployed reached SAR 1.9 bn over the same period.

A focus on local companies: SVC also helped fund 773 companies through 1.5k rounds as of 30 June, 2024. Of the total, 221 were Saudi companies, logging 611 rounds.

SVC’s investments in 2024 included:

  • Investing an undisclosed sum in Jadwa Investment’s first regional blind-pool private equity fund, Jadwa GCC Private Equity Fund 1, targeting SAR 1.5 bn;
  • Investing an undisclosed sum in tech-focused Raed III fund;
  • Signing up as an anchor investor in the USD 150 mn Middle East Venture Fund IV, managed by Middle East Venture Partners;
  • Committing an undisclosed sum to Aliph Fund I, a private equity vehicle with a USD 250 mn target, managed by Aliph Capital;
  • Committing USD 15 mn to Vision Ventures’ Saqr Fund II, which targets early-stage startups with a total fund size of USD 90 mn;
  • Investing SAR 112.5 mn in a General Atlantic-managed fund, which targets high-growth firms in technology, life sciences, healthcare, financial services, and consumer products;
  • Investing USD 30 mn in Olive Rock Partners’ Olive Rock Partners Fund I;
  • Contributing USD 35 mn to a USD 500 mn joint fund with Bahrain’s Investcorp to support local firms at various growth stages.

REMEMBER- The Kingdom attracted USD 750 mn in VC funding in 2024, accounting for almost half of regional funding despite seeing a 44% y-o-y drop, according to a Magnitt report. We also accounted for the largest yearly increase in transaction numbers across the 10 most active countries covered in the report, with agreements increasing 16% to 178.

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