Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — After announcing a staggering US$11.9 billion of investments on Monday, LEAP 2024, the world’s most attended technology exhibition, unveiled another raft of investments totaling over US$888 million on Wednesday.
The investments at LEAP 2024, which runs until March 7 at Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Centre in Malham, will support local start-up ecosystems covering industries such as digital payments, Egaming, and Artificial Intelligence.
Investcorp launched of a US$500 million growth stage fund, while Oasis Capital launched Fund II with capital of US$100 million; the National Development Fund and the Social Development Bank established the US$40 million Gaming and Esports Investment Fund, to be managed by Impact46; and Merak Capital established an US$80 million fund to support gaming accelerators in Saudi Arabia.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia’s Takamol Holdings launched a US$50 million investment arm focused on funding early-stage tech companies; Plug and Play announced its first fund to invest in technology startups; and X by Unifonic revealed its first investment fund to support business software services for startups.
“With on-show investments now approaching US$ 13 billion, today’s announcements and LEAP’s robust content schedule underscore the event’s unlimited potential to convene, leverage, accelerate, and inspire Saudi Arabia’s unique and dynamic technology sector,” said Michael Champion, CEO of Tahaluf – the strategic joint venture between Informa PLC, the Events Investment Fund (EIF), and the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP), which organizes LEAP alongside Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT).
“As we look to fuel commercial growth and technology-enabled social progress across the globe, LEAP and Saudi Arabia are proving crucial enablers in championing industry-wide collaborations and public-private partnerships.”