Press Release

The Evolution of Saudi Arabia's Startup Ecosystem 2010-2022

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Erika is Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer at Lucidity Insights. Having  spent 15 years advising Fortune 500 companies  and multinational conglomerates  from around the world on how to grow businesses in emerging markets, Erika found that data and knowledge underpinned and empowered strategic decision-making. The creation of Lucidity Insights was inspired by the idea that strategic C-suite level data and insights could empower startups and Venture Capitalists in the MENAPT region, elevating the entire regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

Data is not just for the Chief Executive, or the data analyst after-all. Democratizing access to quality data across the tech ecosystem will elevate every startup and every investors’ decision-making, and thus, benefit the economy, overall.

Erika has worked with data to develop comprehensive business success stories and strategies for her entire professional career. She is a thought leader in growth strategies in fast-moving emerging markets, with a focus on Middle Eastern and Asian Markets. She is an expert on the startup ecosystems in the Middle East, and a thought leader on entrepreneurship, disruptive technologies and sustainability. She has worked with both government and corporates clients, across over 30 different industry verticals and in over 40 countries. She is best described as a data-curious strategic thinker and advisor, who also happens to be an  enthusiastic storyteller and writer.

Erika graduated from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business with an Executive MBA (MSx), and also holds degrees from McGill University (B.Sc Neuroscience) and the University of Cambridge (Sustainability in Business). She speaks English and Japanese, is conversational in French, and speaks survival Arabic. In her spare time, she is an avid globe trotter, having travelled to over 70 countries, and counts scuba-diving, free-diving and yoga among her favourite activities. She is a self-described wellness-junkie and adventure enthusiast. She is also a dog mum.

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Erika Masako Welch

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Lucidity Insights Research Team

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Anamika  is a change maker with 15+ years of management consulting, project management, event management and research experience. Having worked for Accenture for over a decade, she began her career overseeing change management and digital learning and development programs across Fortune 500 clients globally. 
Today, Anamika works with select clients on large-scale change programs, and writes whenever she can. As a life-long learner, and lover of writing, she found herself becoming an excellent interviewer, story-teller and speaker. She is passionate about giving voice to startups, projects and new technologies that are nearing break-through. She is curious about the intersection between technology, human behaviour and wellness, and is often most intrigued by startups that help people live better and happier lives.  
Anamika received her BA in Economics and Chinese Studies from the University of Nottingham. She is London born and bred, and splits her time between London and Dubai. She is a certified HIIT instructor, NLP coach and world traveler with a love of experimental cooking.

Anamika Patel

Aby Sam Thomas

Ashok is a storyteller who uses numbers as his medium. He loves to crunch data, analyze it, and investigate deeper questions until the stories begin to emerge on their own. Ashok comes from a finance and consulting background, having worked in the strategy consulting and private equity fields across the Middle East and Emerging Asia for over 15 years, prior to becoming a business writer. When it comes to tech stories, Ashok has a penchant for startups in the fintech, B2B SaaS, AI and ML spaces. He loves writing about Venture Capital, M&A and the general investor landscape of startup ecosystems.
Ashok holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as a diploma in Finance. He speaks English and Hindi fluently.

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<p><a href="https://waed.net/">Wa&rsquo;ed Ventures</a>, a $500 million venture capital fund backed by Aramco, published a comprehensive report on the evolution and current state of the Saudi startup ecosystem in partnership with<a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/me"> Entrepreneur Middle East</a> and<a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/"> Lucidity Insights</a>.</p>

<p>The Special Report titled,&nbsp;<a href="http://lucidityinsights.com/reports/the-evolution-of-saudi-arabias-startup-ecosystem-2010-2022">&ldquo;The Evolution of the Saudi Startup Ecosystem: 2010-2022&rdquo;</a>, hosts perspectives and insights from many of the country&rsquo;s most active investors, highlights new investment trends, critical milestones hit by the Kingdom&rsquo;s fast-growing startup ecosystem, and spotlights a handful of interesting startups coming out of the Kingdom. It is packed full of insights, data and opinions from the thought leaders and market-makers in the Kingdom.</p>

<p><strong>Fahad Alidi, </strong>Wa&rsquo;ed Venture&rsquo;s Managing Director said,<em> &ldquo;over the past few years, the Saudi entrepreneurial ecosystem has undergone a transformational leap due to the unprecedented support from regulators, investors, and startup founders whom together established an unshakeable triplicity that placed the local innovation scene on the map.&rdquo; </em>It is this transformational leap that the<a href="http://lucidityinsights.com/reports/the-evolution-saudi-arabias-startup-ecosystem-2010-2022"> Special Report</a> seeks to capture, while asking the market makers what we can expect to see more of in the years to come.</p>

<h2>Rapid Rise: Saudi Startup Fundraising Reaches New Heights Surpassing $1 Billion in 2022</h2>

<p>It&#39;s a significant year to draw a line in the sand as a benchmark year for the Kingdom&rsquo;s tech ecosystem, as 2022 was the first year Saudi startups collectively raised over US $1 billion in funding. It is a remarkably quick rise, when one only needs to look back five years to see a time when Saudi-born startups raised just over $50 million in a 12 month period. It&rsquo;s no wonder then, that 90% of the Kingdom&rsquo;s venture capitalists were established after 2017. It&rsquo;s an even more astonishing feat when one compares the speed of Saudi&rsquo;s tech ecosystem growth to neighboring regional front-runner, the United Arab Emirates, who only broke through the US $1 billion ceiling just one year prior.</p>

<p><img alt="Startup Funding Value" src="https://d1477w6a38me2o.cloudfront.net/uploads/saudi-venture/articles/launch/saudi-startup-funding.jpg" /></p>

<p>In this time, Saudi has not only established and fostered a tech ecosystem, but nurtured it fervently enough to birth its first batch of unicorns. Saudi Digital Payments Company, more commonly known as<a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/spotlights/stcpay--saudis-first-unicorn"> STC Pay</a>, established itself in 2018 and subsequently became a unicorn in 2020 when<a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/spotlights/stcpay--saudis-first-unicorn"> Western Union acquired a 15% stake for US $200 million</a>. <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=jahez">Jahez</a>, Saudi&rsquo;s home-grown online food-delivery service player, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=saudi%20unicorn">is the Kingdom&rsquo;s newest unicorn, which achieved unicorn status when it IPOed</a> on Saudi&rsquo;s secondary market, raising US $2.4 billion.</p>

<h2>Diverse Saudi Startup Scene: From AI/ML to Space Tech and NFTs, Opportunities to Start a Business in Saudi Arabia Abound</h2>

<p>Beyond <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/topics/fintech">fintechs</a> and <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/topics/food-tech">foodtech</a> startups, the Kingdom is also making waves with the breadth and depth of startups emerging. For example, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=hazen">Hazen.ai</a> is a Saudi-born AI/ML startup using computer vision and deep learning in order to make roads safer to reduce traffic accidents. <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=oq%20technology">OQ Technology</a>, a European Space Tech startup that closed its series A in 2022 to deploy more nano-satellites to help bring 5G connectivity to the most remote parts of the globe, is also covered. Though OQ Technology is a European startup from Luxemburg, it is currently building its first Satellite Control Center in the Kingdom, and expects to hire 300 Saudis over the course of the next 3+ years, which should certainly add to the Kingdom&rsquo;s deep-tech tapestry. <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=nuqtah">Nuqtah</a>, a local NFT-marketplace, and its first beta site launch gets covered too, along with some insights into their dreams and ambitions of becoming a much larger all-encompassing Web3.0 player.</p>

<h2>Insights from Saudi Venture Capital Leaders: Perspectives on the Past, Present, and Future of Startup Funding in Saudi Arabia</h2>

<p>A highlight in the report is a look-book, of sorts, showcasing some of the most active investors in the Saudi startup ecosystem. The report covers their perspectives on what&rsquo;s happened thus far, and what&rsquo;s to come &ndash; including the creation of more specialized funds, funding gaps moving up the funding value chain to later stage and pre-IPO stages, and increasing number of B2B-focused startups. We speak to the Founders and Partners at <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=waed">Wa&rsquo;ed Ventures</a>, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=500%20Global">500 Global</a>, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=impact46">Impact46</a>, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=KAUST">KAUST Innovation Ventures</a>, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=raed">Raed Ventures</a>, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=vision%20ventures">Vision Ventures</a>, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=stv">STV</a>, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=Hala">Hala Ventures</a>, and <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=SVC">Saudi Venture Capital Company</a> or SVC, to name a few.</p>

<p><img alt="Startup Funding in Saudi" src="https://d1477w6a38me2o.cloudfront.net/uploads/saudi-venture/articles/launch/pic.jpg" /></p>

<h2>Breaking Barriers: Women Entrepreneurs and VC Leaders Share Insights on Overcoming Challenges and Advancing Diversity in the Saudi Startup Ecosystem</h2>

<p>A special feature in the <a href="http://lucidityinsights.com/reports/the-evolution-of-saudi-arabias-startup-ecosystem-2010-2022">Special Report</a> also highlights the many women making an impact on the Saudi Venture Capital ecosystem, and asks them &ndash; point blank &ndash; &ldquo;what&rsquo;s it like being a woman in VC in Saudi, and how can we get more female founders and female investors to the table?&rdquo; We get perspectives from the women at the helm at SVC, 500 Global, Impact46, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=graphene">Graphene VC</a>, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/search/results?keyword=outliers">Outliers</a>, and STV.</p>

<p><a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/reports/the-evolution-of-saudi-arabias-startup-ecosystem-2010-2022/read"><img alt="The Evolution Startup Ecosystem in Saudi" src="https://d1477w6a38me2o.cloudfront.net/uploads/saudi-venture/articles/launch/cover-horizontal.png" /></a></p>

<p><strong>Read the <a href="http://lucidityinsights.com/reports/the-evolution-of-saudi-arabias-startup-ecosystem-2010-2022">Full Report</a> for a full download on their responses, or go directly to the article <a href="http://lucidityinsights.com/articles/women-in-saudis-venture-capital-ecosystem">here</a>.</strong></p>

Spotlights

Wa’ed Ventures: Empowering an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Saudi Arabia | Interview with Fahad Alidi

Wa’ed Ventures: Empowering an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Saudi Arabia

RAED Ventures' Top Pieces of Advice for Entrepreneurs and Founders

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Hala Ventures on Supporting Global-Minded Saudi Startups

KAUST Innovation Ventures on Closing the Gap in Deep-Tech Startup Investments

Envisioning the Future of MENA Startups: Vision Ventures’ Investment Approach

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Interview with Amal Dokhan of 500 Global on Nurturing Early Stage Mena Startups

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