Riyadh - Sharikat Mubasher: Wadi Jeddah Company, the investment arm of King Abdulaziz University (KAU), launched Wadi Jeddah Venture Capital and Private Equity Fund, in collaboration with the Center of Creativity and Entrepreneurship at KAU, to foster early-stage startups, the company announced in a statement.

Focusing on innovation and patents, the new fund aims to stimulate the VC ecosystem in the Kingdom by nurturing startups, providing finance opportunities, and establishing the necessary infrastructure to promote the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Additionally, it aims to empower national talents with automated and reliable methods.

Sattam Lingawi, CEO of Wadi Jeddah, stated that the company aims to create an enabling environment to support innovative startups and projects of university students by launching business accelerators and incubators and attracting investment capital.

He emphasized the crucial role of the VC ecosystem in realizing Vision 2030’s goals as the Kingdom led the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region VC rankings in 2023 with total funding worth $1.38 billion.

Moreover, Wadi Jeddah’s fund targets supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and fulfilling the different needs of entrepreneurs.