The Saudis are coming for startups and SMEs around the world. The country’s ‘Public Investment Fund’ of Saudi Arabia (PIF) the largest sovereign fund in the world — with an assets amount estimated at $320 billion — has announced its launch of a fund that will be dedicated for the investment in both startups and SMEs, called ‘Jada’ ,
“Jada supports Saudi’s diversification efforts as the private sector increases its share of GDP. With a capital of SAR 4 billion, the company will catalyze SME investment and provide new job opportunities,” a statement released by the fund reads.
Here Is All You Need To Know
- Jada, being a $1.07 billion fund, is intended to make investments in venture capital as well as private equity funds as shared by the PIF in their statement, without further elaboration.
- Saudi ‘s Sovereign wealth fund ‘Public Investment Fund’ has been actively investing in startups across the globe.
Jada Would Be Investing In Startups Around The Globe
- Jada ’s launch comes only weeks after UAE’s Mubadala launched its $250 million investment initiatives to invest in regional funds and startups. Both Mubadala and Public Investment Fund have been heavily investing in American (and European) startups directly and indirectly (through their investments in SoftBank and others) for years.
- Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, sovereign-wealth fund, just recently led a £150 million (around $170 million) investment in Glovo, the Spanish delivery startup shooting it to reach a $1 billion valuation.
Read also: Learning From Glovo, The Delivery Startup That Is Beating Uber In Big Markets
- Right now, Public Investment Fund appears to be already engaged in discussions with different fund managers from across the world to potentially invest in them through Jada but the statement doesn’t have any details on this.
- Just last year, the Saudi government launched Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC), a $0.75 billion (SAR 2.8 billion) initiative to invest in Saudi startups and VCs (who are investing in Saudi startups).
- The announcement of Jada’s launch came with the news that Jada will be investing in Raed Ventures and Vision Ventures.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world