Saudi Venture Capital invests $5m in VentureSouq FinTech fund

By Delisha Fernandes

Saudi Venture Capital (SVC) announced its investment of $5 million in a FinTech fund managed by VentureSouq (VSQ). The fund will mainly back early-stage FinTech startups.

Nabeel Koshak, CEO and Board Member at SVC, said, “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. This investment also comes to foster the growth witnessed recently by the FinTech sector, which made it at the forefront of the venture capital scene in Saudi Arabia in 2022 in terms of the number of deals and value of investment.

Koshak added, “This 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 .”

SVC is a government investment company established in 2018 and is a subsidiary of the SME Bank, one of the developmental banks affiliated with the National Development Fund. SVC aims to stimulate and sustain financing for startups and SMEs from pre-Seed to pre-IPO by investing $2 billion through investment in funds and co-investment in startups. SVC invested in 43 funds that have invested in 700+ companies.

Maan Eshgi, General Partner at VSQ, said, “FinTech continues to be one of the largest, most dynamic and most consequential spheres of innovation in the world. It serves the application of new technologies, including web3, AI, and quantum computing. From a magnitude of impact standpoint, we see Saudi Arabia leading the MENA region in FinTech . We are honored and thrilled with the continued trust of SVC, who has been a partner with VSQ for many years.”