SUSTG.com / Research

Discover stories, topics, and more about Saudi Arebia faster.

Recent stories from sustg

  • King Salman Opens Annual Janadriyah Festival as Kingdom Puts Saudi Culture On Display
     

    Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Wednesday attended the opening ceremony of the Kingdom’s 32nd National Festival for Heritage and Culture, held in Janadriyah village on the northern outskirts of Riyadh.  The annual festival, known as the Janadriyah Festival, is a vibrant display of Saudi cultural traditions and heritage, and lasts 18 days. The festival’s first day saw King […]

     
  • ACWA Power Wins First Utility-Scale Solar Energy Project in Saudi Arabia
     

    Saudi Arabia has announced that ACWA Power, the Saudi power generation and desalination company, has won the contract for the first utility scale solar power project in Saudi Arabia with a record-breaking tariff of 2.34 US-cents per kilowatt-hour, according to reports. ACWA Power announced the win on its website on Tuesday. “This plant is the first of what […]

     
  • Saudi Embassy Spokeswoman: ‘The Kingdom is not Easternizing or Westernizing, it’s Modernizing’
     

    The first spokeswoman for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Fatimah Baeshen, said in an interview that the Kingdom is not sacrificing culture or values with its Vision 2030 economic and social reform program and that the program has “something for everyone” in Saudi Arabia. The well-spoken Baeshen, who was appointed by Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the […]

     
  • Saudi Economy to See 1.5% Growth in 2018, Jadwa Says
     

    The Saudi Arabian economy will grow by an estimated 1.5 percent in 2018, up from a contraction in 2017 of -0.7 percent, according to a new report from Riyadh-based economic analysts at Jadwa Investment. “The oil sector will see the largest improvement in the year ahead, rising to 1.5 percent in 2018, compared to a decline […]

     
  • Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will Visit Washington, Other U.S. Cities in Early March
     

    The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington is working to organize a visit by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to the United States in early March, the first trip to the U.S. since he became crown prince last year, according to reports. Rumors of a forthcoming visit by the powerful crown prince have surfaced in […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia’s Crackdown on Corruption has Netted the Government Over $106 billion; 56 Suspects Still in Custody
     

    Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on corruption has netted the government over $106 billion, according comments from the official in charge of the effort. Attorney General Sheikh Saud Al-Mojeb said on Tuesday that 56 corruption suspects were still in custody out of a total of 381 people detained on graft charges. According to the Saudi Gazette, the […]

     
  • New Turmoil in Yemen as Separatists Surround Presidential Palace in Aden
     

    Infighting between forces supported by the Saudi and UAE-led coalition in Yemen to restore power to the legitimate government in Yemen is threatening to derail the larger campaign against the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, according to reports. Clashes broke out between the two once-friendly sides in Aden, Yemen this week, where the pro-Saudi elected government of […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia Releases Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Three Other Prominent Detainees
     

    Just hours after a Reuters interview with reporter Katie Paul, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was released from his cushy confines in the Ritz Carlton, Riyadh, where he and other prominent businessmen and royals have been detained in a crackdown on corruption in Saudi Arabia that started in November. Prince Alwaleed gave a tour of his large […]

     
  • Saudi Aramco CEO Says Company Eying U.S. Expansion
     

    Saudi Aramco’s CEO Amin Nasser said the company was eying expansion in the United States “where President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and support for the oil industry are making business increasingly attractive,” Reuters reports. Nasser also lauded the Trump administration as being friendly toward the oil industry. “The Trump administration has been positive towards the energy […]

     
  • At Davos, Saudi Leaders Discuss Energy, Foreign Policy on World Stage
     

    Saudi government leaders arrived to Davos, Switzerland for the annual World Economic Forum to meet with other world leaders and discuss key foreign policy and energy challenges facing the Kingdom. The 48th Annual Meeting in Davos will host 3,000 participants across all stakeholder groups including public & private sectors, civil society, academia, media, and arts & culture. The Saudi delegation is led […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Saudi startups raise more than $250m by mid-year: Report

    Saudi Arabian startups raised more than a quarter of a billion dollars in venture capital (VC) funding during the first half of 2021, according to a new industry report. A total of $1.228 billion was raised by startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the first six months of the year, a rise of 63 percent year on year and 12 percent more than was raised during the whole of 2020, according to figures from the MENA H1 2021 Venture Investment Report, published by Dubai-based research platform Magnitt.

  • Generation start-up: How Saudi Arabia’s Speero is digitalising the automotive market

    “I had an issue with getting my own car repaired … the service facility didn’t want to buy the auto parts themselves and I had to waste a lot of time convincing a third-party seller to deliver the parts at their doorstep,” Mr Shamlan, 31, said.

  • The $20 Billion Winner of the American EV Startup Boom: Saudi Arabia

    The single biggest financial beneficiary of the recent U.S. electric-vehicle startup boom is an unlikely candidate: the world’s largest exporter of oil. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia stands to record a profit of nearly $20 billion on a $2.9 billion investment in Lucid Motors Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area electric-car maker that is set to list publicly after it completes a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company Friday. The Saudi Public Investment Fund will own over 60% of the company, which is expected to have a market capitalization of about $36 billion based on the SPAC’s current share price.

  • Iran notifies parties won’t resume Vienna talks before August

    Iran has formally notified the European coordinator that it will not be ready to return to negotiations on possibly restoring full compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in Vienna until after Ebrahim Raisi is inaugurated in early August, a senior U.S. administration official said on the sidelines of a diplomatic reception tonight.

  • Africa’s 4 $1b fintech unicorns could pave the way for startups

    There is a wave of optimism around the first four African startups to hit a $1 billion valuation. These $1 billion+  companies—typically referred to as unicorns—are Flutterwave,  Interswitch, and Fawry in fintech, and Jumia in e-commerce. Emerging markets investment analysts are betting on these two sectors, staked on the continent’s tech-savvy population, to provide even more unicorn status companies for the region.

  • Saudi Aramco VC arm invests in Chinese medical robot startup

    Prosperity7 Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco, has invested in Chinese medical rehabilitation robot firm Fourier Intelligence as part of the startup’s Series C+ funding round. “All proceeds will go towards global market expansion and technological development, furthering the company’s mission to provide intelligent rehabilitation technologies to empower clinicians and neurological patients,” the Chinese company said in a Linkedin post.

  • Funding to Mena start-ups rises 64% to $1.2bn in first half of 2021

    The total funding secured by start-ups in the Mena region rose by 64 per cent in the first half of the year as economies in the region continue to recover from coronavirus pandemic and investors allocate more cash to promising start-ups. Funding for Mena start-ups during the period stood at $1.2 billion, more than the $1.09bn raised in the whole of last year, according to the latest report from data platform Magnitt.

  • French, U.S. Special Forces Agree to Beef Up Partnership in Africa

    The agreement, which follows an announcement that France will cut its troop presence in the Sahel roughly in half, indicates America is not done fighting terrorism even as President Joe Biden withdraws U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Parly said she and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “signed a roadmap to strengthen even more the relationship between our two special forces,” during a meeting at the Pentagon.

  • Saudi Research & Media Group announces transformation strategy focusing on platform expansion and international partnerships across five new verticals

    Saudi Research & Media Group (SRMG) – which owns more than 30 major media outlets including Asharq Al-Awsat, Asharq News and Arab News, and has a combined monthly reach of 165 million – announced a new transformation strategy on Sunday focusing on platform expansion, international partnerships and strategic investments across five key business verticals.

  • Perspective: The UAE and Saudi Arabia – The Partnership Endures Despite Oil Dispute

    On most issues, at a fundamental level the UAE and Saudi Arabia have broadly compatible goals and can reinforce each other with complementary capabilities. Both are also still within a broad-based pro-United States camp. And, while they see the threats somewhat differently, both have the same major concerns: Iran and its network of regional proxies, Turkey and its budding regional alliance, and the continued threat of extremist and terrorist groups. In a region divided between status quo powers and revisionist forces, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are strongly in the status quo camp.