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Saudi Arabia’s reforms have driven venture capital funding to more than double in less than a year, exceeding the total capital deployed in the whole of last year.
The kingdom’s VC funding, which reached SAR 3.2 billion ($860 million) in the first six months of 2025, marked a 116% jump over the same period in 2024, according to MAGNiTT, a venture data platform.
The growth has been driven by Saudi Arabia’s efforts to promote entrepreneurship and stimulate the expansion of the kingdom’s start-up scene, as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 goals.
Among the entrepreneurs seeking to raise capital during the first half of the year, those in e-commerce took the lead with a combined funding of $306 million, accounting for 36% of the total.
In terms of the number of deals, Fintech took the number one spot with 30 deals or 26% of the kingdom’s total.
Saudi Arabia logged a total of 114 VC transactions during the period, marking a 31% growth compared to the first half of 2024.
This also represents more than a third (37%) of all the deals recorded in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the highest share ever for Saudi Arabia.
“The steady growth of the Saudi VC ecosystem in recent years has enabled it to maintain its leading position in the MENA region and achieve a record VC funding and deal count in the first half of 2025,” said Nabeel Koshak, CEO and Board Member at SVC, which had commissioned MAGNiTT to compile a report on VC funding.
“This growth directly results from the country’s commitment to realising the Saudi Vision 2030, which emphasizes fostering entrepreneurship and stimulating investment start-ups from early to later stages.”
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
