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Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦

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Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Aramco, led the investment. 
Qatar Development Bank (QDB) and Nour Nouf Ventures also participated. 
Founded in 2017, Ynmo offers AI-driven educational and rehabilitative platforms. 
The funding will accelerate service expansion and strengthen regional partnerships. 
The initiative focuses on improving early childhood support for children with disabilities.

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Investors: Oman Investment Authority, Qatar Investment Authority, and Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Kingdom Holding are the key players backing xAI. 
Funding Amount: A hefty $6 billion has been secured in xAI&#8217;s Series C funding round. 
Purpose: The investment will bolster xAI&#8217;s computational infrastructure and fuel the creation of sophisticated AI models. 
Valuation: The funding catapults xAI&#8217;s valuation to an impressive $50 billion. 
Strategic Importance: This move aligns with the Gulf countries&#8217; ambitions to diversify their economies and invest heavily in advanced technologies.

Empowering Merchants: EdfaPay&#8217;s Soft POS technology transforms everyday smart devices into secure payment terminals, eliminating the need for bulky traditional hardware.
SAMA&#8217;s Endorsement: With the Saudi Central Bank&#8217;s backing, there&#8217;s a strong signal of trust and a push towards a more robust financial ecosystem.
Regional Expansion: EdfaPay isn&#8217;t stopping at Saudi borders—it&#8217;s making waves in Morocco and Tunisia, bringing cutting-edge solutions to the wider MENA region.
Fueling Growth: A recent injection of $5 million in Pre-Series A funding is set to turbocharge EdfaPay&#8217;s mission, impacting businesses and consumers alike.

Significant Investment: A hefty $10 million fund is launched to bolster startups in Al Madinah, set to be established by 2025.
Ambitious Targets: The initiative aspires to attract over 30 investors annually and kickstart five new companies each year.
Boosting the Economy: Al Madinah contributes 7% to Saudi Arabia&#8217;s GDP and hosts over 60,000 SMEs; this program aims to amplify its economic impact.
Collaborative Synergy: A joint effort by Value Makers Studio, the Economic Development Centre, and the Madinah Chamber of Commerce fuels this initiative.
Vision 2030 in Action: Aligns with Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Vision 2030 by championing entrepreneurship and diversifying the economy.

Investment Purpose: Drive growth for tech and tech-enabled startups in Saudi Arabia and the MENA region. 
Sectors of Focus: Fintech, enterprise software, and B2B SaaS. 
Funding Stages: Primarily targeting Seed and Series A rounds. 
Alignment with Saudi Vision 2030: Aims to diversify the economy and foster innovation. 
Past Collaborations: Builds on the success of the previous Raed II fund.

Successful lithium extraction: Saudi Arabia has extracted lithium from brine samples sourced from Aramco&#8217;s oilfields.
Commercial pilot program planned: A pilot program for direct lithium extraction is set to commence soon.
Collaboration with Lihytech: The initiative is led by Lithium Infinity (Lihytech), a startup from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), in partnership with Ma’aden and Aramco.
Technological advancements: Lihytech has developed innovative technology to extract lithium from oilfield brines, aiming to make the process commercially viable.
Strategic importance: Lithium is essential for batteries in electric vehicles, laptops, and smartphones, aligning with Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Vision 2030 to diversify its economy.

Funding Details: Secured $8 million from GMS Capital Ventures.
Company Background: Established in 2024 by Saudi entrepreneur Mohammed Altassan, OmniOps focuses on AI infrastructure solutions.
Technological Innovations: Specializes in energy-efficient, cloud-native high-performance computing (HPC) clusters and is developing a sovereign AI inference cluster with advanced Machine Learning Operations (ML Ops) features.
Strategic Importance: Aligns with Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Vision 2030 and the National Strategy for Data and AI, emphasizing data sovereignty and local content.
Clientele and Partnerships: Trusted by organizations like Saudi Airlines and CNTXT, with collaborations involving NVIDIA, Google Cloud, and IBM.

Official Launch: D360 Bank has commenced its banking operations in Saudi Arabia, following the Saudi Central Bank&#8217;s (SAMA) approval.
Capital Investment: The bank is established with a capital of SAR 1,65 billion (approximately $440 million), funded by a consortium of individual and corporate investors, including the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Leadership: Derayah Financial Company leads the establishment and management of D360 Bank.
Strategic Alignment: This development aligns with Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Vision 2030, aiming to enhance the digital economy and promote financial inclusion.
Banking Landscape: With D360 Bank&#8217;s addition, Saudi Arabia now has 35 licensed banks, including 11 local banks, 3 local digital banks, and 21 foreign bank branches.