Saudi Arabia will accelerate efforts to boost local startup growth and develop Saudi Arabia’s entrepreneurship ecosystem with significant investments by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) into local startups in 2022, according to reports.
The PIF has announced plans to invest $40 billion locally in Saudi Arabia in 2022 in what may be a strong economic year for the Kingdom.
Entrepreneurship is at the core of the Kingdom’s economic diversification plans, which seeks to disconnect the Saudi economy from a reliance on oil revenues to power growth.
Local English-language daily Arab News quoted Mohammed Al-Zubi, founder and managing partner of technology-focused venture capital firm Nama Ventures, as saying “anytime we see significant spending by the government in different sectors, we immediately see opportunities for startups to participate.”
The timing may be right for Saudi Arabia’s startup culture to blossom. Increasingly, with the Kingdom’s focus on creating a better quality of life and boosting entertainment options locally, attracting and retaining crucial talent for new startups is easier than ever before.
In a recent Reuters analysis, columnist George Hay said the Kingdom’s capital Riyadh “may be about to pivot from global no-go to FOMO.”
“The Saudi Arabian capital has long been seen by international bankers and executives as a place to visit for work, before weekending in the UAE’s more western-friendly hub, Dubai. That crowd may develop a nagging fear of missing out.”
One of the sectors with the largest potential is fintech in Saudi Arabia. Recently, Entrepreneur Middle East and Fintech Saudi released an in-depth report on the emerging fintech ecosystem in the Kingdom. As the report says, “although there have been a number of fintech success stories in Saudi Arabia, including digital payments solution developer STC becoming the region’s first unicorn in November 2020, the report states that “Saudi Arabia requires a special touch, a deep understanding of local context and macroeconomic influences.”
