Saudi Arabia’s Jada Fund of Funds plans launching funds to attract investments in favor of NEOM, revealed Jada CEO Adel Al-Ateeq.
“We are looking to increase the volume of Jada’s investment by more than SAR 4 billion ($1.06 billion),” Al-Ateeq told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“Since the beginning of Jada’s launch, we have invested in more than 20 investment funds,” said Al-Ateeq.
“The volume of investment in these funds exceeded SAR2 billion ($533.3 million), distributed among a number of venture capital and private equity funds in the Kingdom,” revealed the CEO.
Al-Ateeq stressed that Jada will continue to invest in venture capital and private equity in the Kingdom. He reaffirmed that the fund would carry on with the momentum it started with three years ago.
He pointed out that Jada’s capital initially amounted to SAR 4 billion ($1.06 billion) but hoped to increase its value in the future.
“We invested SAR 2 billion in 3 years... and I expect to continue at the same level during the next three years... We invested in 20 funds in several companies,” said Al-Ateeq, adding that Jada has capitalized in 350 local and regional companies.
“NEOM is still in the process of being established, and it is working to establish many targeted projects... Therefore, we are looking forward to launching investment funds that will give NEOM a share of its investments when its projects are launched,” revealed Al-Ateeq.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment (MISA) and Jada had formed a partnership to bolster the Kingdom’s start-up and innovation sector and support economic diversification under the ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative.
Jada, owned by the Public Investment fund (PIF), provides funding to start-ups in the Kingdom through commercially sustainable investments in venture capital and private equity funds.
MISA and Jada aim to connect leaders from government agencies, start-up entrepreneurs, investors and leading family business representatives from the Kingdom to participate in roundtable discussions and reinforce the private sector’s impact on the local economy.
The ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative is in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 which aims to raise small and medium sized enterprises’ (SMEs) contribution to GDP from 21% to 35% by 2030.
