Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco, has allocated $100 million to invest in early-stage artificial intelligence (AI) startups.
The fund aims to accelerate Saudi Arabia’s push to enhance its competitiveness in the global AI sector, Bloomberg reported.
The investment will be deployed over the next three years, targeting startups that align with the Kingdom’s strategy to foster innovation and localize global talent.
An advisory board, consisting of experts with backgrounds at companies such as Meta and Amazon, has been formed to identify strategic opportunities.
Wa’ed Ventures, which manages a $500 million fund, has increased its focus on AI investments in 2023.
It recently invested $15 million in South Korean chipmaker Rebellions Inc and participated in funding rounds for the AI platform aiXplain and Peter Thiel-backed Tenderd.
Saudi Arabia’s AI strategy is closely tied to its Vision 2030 economic diversification agenda. The Kingdom aims to harness data and AI technologies throughout this decade to fuel economic growth, with a goal to emerge as a global AI player after 2030.
The country is competing with the United Arab Emirates to become the region’s technology hub, with both nations making significant investments in AI infrastructure, including high-cost data centers.
A report by PwC forecasts that Saudi Arabia could generate $135 billion from AI technologies by 2030, with AI contributing more than 12% to the national GDP.
Wa’ed’s investments in AI are part of a broader effort to transform the Kingdom’s economy, attract foreign talent, and support local entrepreneurship, aligning with Saudi Arabia’s ambition to become a leading AI innovator in the Middle East and beyond.
