Saudi Arabia sees 55% surge in tech startup funding

Saudi Arabia sees 55% surge in tech startup funding

When it comes to the monetary value of the deals, the UAE and Egypt still dominated overall, but Saudi Arabia recorded a surge of 55 percent year-on-year to $152 million. By comparison the value of deals in the UAE rose 5 percent and Egyptian funding increased 31 percent.Nabeel Koshak, CEO at Saudi Venture Capital Company, said: “Saudi Arabia is witnessing an increase in the quality and quantity in the deal flow of startups. I am thrilled by the distinguished entrepreneurs who are creating fast growth and scalable startups. Despite the slowdown of COVID-19, Saudi Arabia saw a record increase in venture capital funding (55 percent) in 2020 compared with 2019.”Overall, across the Middle East and North Africa, 2020 saw a record of just over $1 billion invested in start-ups, an increase of 13 percent year-on-year. This is despite the volume of deals decreasing by 13 percent over the same period.The impact of the pandemic can be clearly seen in the data. In the first half of the 2020, $725 million of funding was raised, an increase of 29 percent compared with $563 million in the first six months of 2019. In the second half of the year, $306 million was