Riyadh - Sharikat Mubasher: STV, the leading growth investor in the tech sector in MENA, successfully closed its inaugural non-dilutive capital vehicle, the STV NICE Fund I, launched in partnership with SAB Invest and the strategic backing of the National Technology Development Program (NTDP).

This initiative will address the financing gap for tech startups in Saudi Arabia, offering critical Sharia-compliant non-dilutive capital to fuel growth in the rapidly expanding tech sector, STV announced in a recent press release.

The partnership was announced on 30 April in the presence of Lubna Alolayan, Chairperson of SAB, Abdulrahman Tarabzouni, Founder of STV, Ibrahim Neyaz, CEO of NTDP, and Ali Almansour, Managing Director and CEO at SAB Invest, along with various stakeholders of the banking and investment industries.

The STV NICE Fund I is designed to provide a founder-friendly capital alternative for growth companies to accelerate their business while avoiding equity dilution, leveraging the innovative Non-Dilutive Investment in Callable Equity (NICE) instrument.

This structure enables investors to capture high-growth opportunities in the tech sector while generating regular income within a Sharia-compliant framework.

Ihsan Jawad, General Partner of STV, commented: “This milestone marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of tech investment in the Kingdom. We are very pleased to have developed a funding instrument tailored to the needs of regional startups.”

For his part, NTDP’s Nayez said: “Our strategic backing of Non-Dilutive initiatives will create a sustainable, scalable funding platform to meet the increasing demands of tech startups in the Kingdom. This effort aims to accelerate the growth of these companies, offering access to non-dilutive capital that will foster innovation and contribute to the diversification of the economy.”

SAB Invest will enable a broader investor base to participate in this unique growth-income, shariah-compliant investment product, which opens the door to building a truly scalable and sustainable funding platform.