Riyadh - Sharikat Mubasher: Saudi Arabia led the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for the first time in terms of venture capital (VC) funding in 2023, according to figures released by MAGNiTT.

The Kingdom seized 52% of the total capital deployed in the MENA region in 2023, up from 31% in 2022. In addition, the funding deployed in Saudi startups rose by 33% in 2023 versus 2022.

The report revealed that the VC funding in Saudi Arabia grew 21 times in 2023 versus 2018.

This historic achievement reflects the attractiveness of the Saudi market, enhances its competitive environment, and solidifies the strength of the Kingdom’s economy as the largest economy in MENA.

In this regard, Nabeel Koshak, CEO of Saudi Venture Capital (SVC), commented: “The Kingdom’s leading position in the VC scene in the region comes as a result of the many governmental initiatives launched to stimulate the VC and startups ecosystem within the Saudi Vision 2030 programs, and the development of the legislative and regulatory environment for the ecosystem, in addition to the emergence of active investors from the private sector as well as innovative entrepreneurs.”

He further affirmed that SVC’s strategy contributed to developing the VC ecosystem in the Kingdom.

“We at SVC are committed to continuing to lead the development of the VC ecosystem in Saudi Arabia through stimulating private investors to provide support in turn for startups and SMEs to be capable of fast and high growth, leading to diversifying the national economy and achieving the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030,” Koshak added.

MAGNiTT is a SaaS platform that provides data, analytics, insights, and reports on venture capital funding, start-ups, and investors across the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan, Turkey, and Singapore.