Riyadh, September 11, 2023, Saudi Venture Capital (SVC), which primarily invests in early-stage fintech companies, made a sizeable $5 million investment in a fintech fund run by VentureSouq (VSQ). SVC reported on this investment project. The CEO and board member at SVC, Dr. Nabeel Koshak, and the general partner at VSQ, Maan Eshgi, reportedly signed the subscription agreement. Additionally present at the signing event were Musaab Hakami, the Fintech General Partner at VSQ; Nora Alsarhan, the Chief Legal Officer at SVC; and Haifa Bahaian, the Chief Investment Officer at SVC. According to Dr. Koshak, the investment by VSQ into the fintech fund is a part of the SVC's Investment in Funds Program, which aims to encourage the growth of the Saudi Arabian venture capital ecosystem at all levels and for all industries. This investment also contributes to the recent rise of the fintech industry. The Saudi Fintech initiative, which the Saudi Central Bank and Capital Market Authority started in collaboration with one another, as well as the introduction 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 top nations in the field of fintech, are some of the government initiatives that are to blame for this growth.
SVC, founded in 2018, is a government investment firm and a division of the SME Bank, one of the national development fund-affiliated development banks. SVC's goal is to invest $2 billion through fund investments and co-investments in entrepreneurs in order to stimulate and sustain finance for startups and SMEs from the pre-Seed to pre-IPO stages. SVC has so far made investments in 43 funds, which have in turn made investments in more than 700 businesses.
