Aramco’s Wa’ed signs deal to boost venture capital investment

JEDDAH: Saudi Aramco’s entrepreneurship arm Wa’ed signed a collaboration agreement with the Falak Investment Hub on Wednesday to help drive venture capital investment in the Kingdom.

The agreement was signed at Wa’ed’s headquarters in Dhahran by Falak’s founder and CEO Adwa Aldakheel and the managing director of Wa’ed, Wassim Basrawi.

Falak is a hybrid firm between a startup accelerator, co-working space, angel network, and an investment firm targeting regional tech startups focusing on Saudi Arabia.

Founded in 2018 by female entrepreneur Adwa Aldakheel, Falak’s portfolio of startups has generated combined revenue of more than SR550 million ($146.67 million).

“With the robust platforms and complementary resources our organizations bring to the table, I am confident this cooperation will enable us to fund more entrepreneurs and innovators that will add value to the Kingdom’s venture capital ecosystem,” Basrawi said in a press conference.

Both organizations aim to exploit synergies to improve early stage and growth stage startups’ chances of success through support with training programs, market access, and mentorship.

“The Saudi entrepreneurial ecosystem grows through alliances and this collaboration with Wa’ed will leverage the synergies between our companies to benefit entrepreneurs across the Kingdom,” Aldakheel said. Falak launched the first angel-backed acceleration program in Saudi Arabia and has 15 startups in its investment-backed acceleration program.

It has graduated two batches of startups from its flagship acceleration program while applications for a third batch are currently open until the end of May.

The investment hub also offers local entrepreneurship podcasts, incubation and acceleration programs for government entities.

virtual boot camps across the Middle East and North Africa, and an angel network partnered with Saudi Venture Capital.

The agreement with Falak is Wa’ed’s fifth alliance announced since December.