Wa’ed, Taibah Valley Company collaborate to support start-ups in emerging Saudi hub

Wa’ed, Taibah Valley Company collaborate to support start-ups in emerging Saudi hub

RIYADH — Wa'ed, the entrepreneurship arm of Aramco, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Taibah Valley Company, an emerging Saudi hub for artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain development, to support start-ups in Madinah.The collaboration was signed in a virtual ceremony by Wassim Basrawi, Wa'ed managing director, and Dr. Jaber Faraj Almutairi, chief executive officer of Taibah Valley Company (TVC). Under the agreement, Wa'ed's venture capital fund, Wa'ed Ventures, will screen TVC start-ups for potential incubation and investment.The announcement comes as Wa'ed continues to expand the Kingdom's entrepreneurial ecosystem through alliances. Last December, Wa'ed signed an MoU with Namaa Almunawara, the economic development agency in Makkah, and in November, Wa'ed signed an MoU with Oqal, the leading angel investor network in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.The pacts are designed to share opportunities and resources and cultivate entrepreneurs whose disruptive products and solutions fill gaps in the Saudi economy.Established in 2008, Taibah Valley Company launched the Madinah region's first blockchain development lab in 2018.The new MoU with Wa'ed will nurture