Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Venture Capital (SVC) has made a $5 million investment in a fintech fund managed by VentureSouq (VSQ), primarily targeting early-stage fintech startups.
The SVC, established in 2018, is a government investment company and a subsidiary of the SME Bank, one of the development banks affiliated with the National Development Fund.
The company’s job is to catalyze and sustain financing for startups and SMEs from the pre-Seed to pre-IPO stages by deploying $2 billion through investments in funds and co-investment in startups.
To date, SVC has invested in 43 funds that have, in turn, invested in over 700 companies.
“The investment in the fintech fund by VSQ is part of SVC’s Investment in Funds Program to support the development of the VC ecosystem in Saudi Arabia for all sectors and stages,” the CEO Dr Nabeel Koshak said.
“The growth is driven by the launch of many governmental initiatives that stimulate the fintech sector, such as the Saudi Fintech initiative launched by the Saudi Central Bank in partnership with the Capital Market Authority, as well as the launch of the Kingdom’s fintech strategy as a new pillar within the Saudi Vision 2030 Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP), which aims to support the Kingdom to be among the leading countries in the field of fintech,” he added.