Riyadh, KSA, April 17, 2013: Saudi Telecom Company and Iris Capital (STC Ventures' Fund Manager) announced today that STC Ventures Fund has recently concluded the acquisition of a significant minority stake in IT Interactive Software Company (Acadox). Acadox is one of the early startup companies that has recently graduated from the New Ventures & Entrepreneurship Program of King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST).
Dr Fahad Mushayt, VP Corporate Strategy at Saudi Telecom, said: "The establishment of STC Ventures in early 2012 comes as part of the Kingdom's strategic direction and its drive to transform to a knowledge-based economy by enriching the spirit of both initiative and innovation being a fund that invests in start-ups and small and medium sized businesses which develop products and services in the field of telecommunications and information technology. In return this creates a market and key investment opportunities by being the first to have access to technologies and modern services as well as enter into new partnerships. Doing so will create new job opportunities, encourage and develop innovation and creativity and continuous development as well support the infrastructure for a knowledge based economy." He added: "As a result of this important initiative, Saudi Telecom is proud to have STC Ventures Fund complete its investment and become the first investor in Acadox which recently graduated from the Seed Fund Program of one of the world's leading universities, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology".
Mr. Teo Uysal, Acting Director of New Ventures & Entrepreneurship at KAUST said: "We are thrilled that STC Ventures, a leading Saudi venture capital fund, partnered with Acadox, one of our first Seed Fund graduates. The influx of new capital reflects the high potential of Acadox and is a testament to the innovativeness of Acadox's technology platform, its exciting business potential and the strength of its team. With this new funding and Board representation of STC Ventures, Acadox will be able to accelerate its growth in the education marketplace." Mr. Aiman Al-Atiqi, Partner at Iris Capital, said: "The Seed Fund Program and the Entrepreneurship Center at KAUST are stellar examples of excellence in the development of complex, technology based startups, assisting entrepreneurs in shaping their research and development projects to form successful technology startups and become leading companies in Saudi Arabia."
Mr. Mustafa Nabulsi, Co-Founder and CEO of Acadox said: "The idea started when we saw a need for an efficient tool allowing students to learn on their own terms & timeline. We knew that the traditional course tools are increasingly irrelevant for today's students and faculty. Acadox aims to be the educational hub for the Middle East providing top notch technologies for faculty and students to manage their academic lives in an easier and more practical way. This service is provided through a web-based platform that facilitates a better learning environment for students and faculties. The company provides extensive services that follow world class standards in terms of hosting, security, scalability, and cloud computing. Our values are to increase knowledge sharing and an overall better learning experience for all. We are now looking to collaborate with more universities, and to provide our tools to more students and faculties."
About STC Ventures
STC Ventures is a venture capital fund, independently managed by Iris Capital Management, whose anchor investor is the STC Group. It is focused on equity investments that will help to build companies in the information technology, telecommunications, internet and digital media/entertainment sectors. One of the key objectives of the fund is to support the development of innovative technology companies in Saudi Arabia, the GCC, Levant, North Africa and Turkey, in addition to funding globally minded international companies seeking capital and access to the MENA region and other exciting, emerging markets.
Website: www.stcventures.com
About STC Group
STC Group is the largest telecommunications company in the MENA region, based on market capitalization, total revenue and number of employees, and was recently ranked in the top 20 mobile networks in the world. The Group owns and operates the largest and most advanced mobile infrastructure and broadband services in the Middle East and has made major investments with global reach in various continents, operating in Turkey, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and South Africa. Website: www.stc.com.sa
About KAUST
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is an international, graduate-level research university. Research at KAUST focuses on areas that are important to the future of Saudi Arabia, the region and the world and takes place in world-class facilities serving students, researchers and faculty in disciplines such as energy and environment, water desalination, industrial biotechnology, and scientific computing. KAUST New Ventures & Entrepreneurship (NVE) includes the Seed Fund Program which is a product development funding mechanism that advance promising ideas to commercialization, and leads to the formation of new companies.
Another critical component of NVE is the Entrepreneurship Center which offers: coaching and mentoring programs; outreach activities such as the MENA and Global speaker series; [and?] partnering with domestic and international entrepreneurship centers and other organized services.
Website: www.kaust.edu.sa
About Iris Capital
Iris Capital is a pan-European venture capital fund manager specializing in digital economy. Since its inception in 1986, the Iris Capital team has invested more than €900 million in more than 200 companies. Iris Capital targets opportunities in service or technology companies, seeking growth capital in order to realize their strategy. It provides active support to its portfolio companies on the basis of its strong sector specialization and experience, and has offices in Paris, Düsseldorf, San Francisco, Montreal, Riyadh, Dubai, Beijing and Tokyo.
Website: www.iriscapital.com
STC Ventures Contact:
Aiman Al-Atiqi, Partner
Tel: +966 505 362453
Email: aiman@stcventures.com
© Press Release 2013
