Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Saudi Arabia Launches $100 Billion Joint Investment Fund

The Gulf country makes a move to diversify its economy, while Qatar Foundation partners with 500 Startups to support MENA entrepreneurs.

Staff Writer

Saudi Arabia Launches $100 Billion Joint Investment Fund

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has just teamed up with Japan’s SoftBank Group to create a tech investment fund that would potentially reach $100 billion, becoming one of the largest private equity investors in the world.

The London-based fund, titled ‘Softbank Vision Fund’, will be bolstered with up to $45 billion from the Saudi PIF over the next five years, and $25 billion from Japanese telecommunication giant Softbank.

The Saudi PIF – which recently invested $3.5 billions in Uber - was established as part of the Gulf country’s strategy to diversify its economy and reduce its dependency on oil. According to a statement by Softbank, several global investors are expected to participate in the fund, potentially bringing it to $100 billion.

Earlier in September, Qatar Foundation partnered with global VC 500 Startups to stimulate and advance innovation in the MENA to provide seed funding, training, and mentorship to startups across the MENA region over the next five years.

The foundation will become an anchor investor in the 500 Startups MENA region microfund, organising the annual world-class ‘500 Distro Dojo’ growth marketing accelerator programme, and will make the incubation centre at Qatar Science and Technology Park available to all startups to enable research and tech development.