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  • Three New Ventures by MiSK to Boost Innovation, Training and Investment
     

    Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s MiSK Foundation launched three new strategic ventures in Riyadh aimed “at comprehensively building the skills, knowledge and capability for economic growth within the Saudi Arabian tech sector,” Reuters and the Saudi Gazette reports. MiSK Academy, MiSK Technovation and MiSK Booster mark a significant new development in the foundation’s work to empower, […]

     
  • Updated LinkedIn Profiles Indicate Key Hires by Saudi Arabia’s PIF
     

    Recently updated LinkedIn profiles indicate a hiring spree by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) as the Kingdom looks to use the sovereign wealth fund to jump-start its reform plans. Reuters reports that several executives have updated their LinkedIn profiles to indicate a new affiliation with the PIF, but the PIF did not comment directly on […]

     
  • ‘Downward Trend’ in Economic Activity Seen in Latest Jadwa Investment Chartbook
     

    Jadwa Investment’s recently released economic chartbook for the month of November found a downward trend in economic activity and the fourth consecutive negative change in government accounts with SAMA. “Economic data for September showed a downward trend in economic activity,” Jadwa said it the report, pointing to negative growth in cash withdrawals from ATMs and […]

     
  • Are oil markets better off with OPEC cuts?
     

    Jadwa Investment’s latest Quarterly Oil Market Update anticipates that OPEC’s decision to announce, but not to implement, a cut in production will likely lead to a small cut in oil production “more akin to a production ’freeze’ rather than an outright cut”. “Any agreement by OPEC, if reached, will of course need to be acted […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia’s PIF, Japan’s Softbank Team Up to Create a Tech Investing Behemoth
     

    Saudi Arabia and Japan’s SoftBank Group will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, making it one of the world’s largest private equity investors. Softbank is creating a new global tech investment fund, seeded with $25 billion of its own money. The fund, which will be London, UK based […]

     
  • Yemen’s Houthis Fire Another Missile into Saudi Arabia as Kingdom, Iran Spar at UN over War
     

    Saudi Arabia says it has shot down a ballistic missile fired into the Kingdom by Houthi rebels and their Iranian allies in the latest incident in Yemen’s civil war that has raged for nearly 19 months. The missile targeted the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait and was destroyed Tuesday night without causing any injuries, the Saudi Press […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia Switches to Gregorian Calendar
     

    Saudi Arabia has shifted to the Gregorian or “Western” calendar as a basis for paying civil servants as part of broader fiscal changes, according to reports. The kingdom adopted the lunar Islamic calendar when it was founded in 1932, but the change places its payment schedule in line with the West. It also brings civil […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry Criticizes JASTA, Congress Weighs Adjustment of Law
     

    Although the Congressional override of President Obama’s veto on the controversial Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) was anticipated, it’s reality has proved shocking to U.S. leaders as well as countries globally.  Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry has issued a statement strongly condemning the legislation and noted, as has been done frequently in the run-up […]

     
  • Jadwa Investment Report Looks at ‘Significant Implications of Vision 2030 on Trade and Financial Flows’ for Saudi Arabia
     

    A recently released Jadwa Investment report researches the impact that Vision 2030 is likely to have on international trade and investment flows with Saudi Arabia. This report looks at the evolution of the current account for the period 2016-30, which is forecast to reach a surplus of $135 billion (8 percent of GDP) by 2030. “While oil export […]

     
  • Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Cracks Bloomberg’s 50 Most Influential in Finance
     

    Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been ranked 42nd Bloomberg’s list of the 50 Most Influential People in the world of finance. Bloomberg said that the 31-year old prince has drawn up a plan to transform the world’s biggest crude exporter into a diversified economy fit for the next era, almost eight decades after […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Saudi real estate platform transactions soar to $267m a day, 1m users registered

    Saudi Arabia’s Real Estate Market platform has 1m registered users and averages $1bn ($267m) of transactions a day, according to a report from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The MOJ announced this represents a significant growth in the usage of the Real Estate Market platform. The platform has over one million registered users, with the average daily user count surpassing 30,000.

  • Saudi aid convoys arrive at Nile River and Northern states in Sudan

    Convoys carrying relief supplies sent by Saudi aid agency KSrelief have arrived at Nile River State and Northern State in Sudan, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday. The arrival of the convoys at their destinations marks the start of the second phase of a project to support food security in the North African country, officials said. Maj. Gen. Abdul Mahmoud Hammad Hussein, the acting governor of Nile River State, thanked Saudi Arabia for the aid and relief projects it provides, through KSrelief, for the Sudanese people, who are facing a humanitarian crisis.

  • What are people in Saudi Arabia buying?

    The number one used financial app is STC pay. 45 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s population say that Stc Pay is the mobile payment platform they typically use. The second app that is not far behind in numbers is Mada Pay. Surprisingly, global payment platforms such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay lie on the lower end of the scale. Apple Pay is used more often compared to Samsung Pay, when comparing 32 per cent of people who said they used Apple Pay to Samsung Pay’s 11 per cent. When it comes to financial services, most of the respondents opted for Mada as their choice. After Mada, the next most popular ones are Visa and Stc Pay. When it comes to retail banks on the other hand, almost half of the respondents chose Alrajahi Bank. The remaining were split almost equally between Riyad Bank and Alinma Bank.

  • CENTCOM chief in Saudi Arabia to meet top military general as violence engulfs region

    The top US military general for the Middle East met with Saudi Arabia’s Chief of General Staff, Gen. Fayyad Al-Ruwaili, on Wednesday to discuss deepening military and defense ties, the Saudi Ministry of Defense said. United States Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Gen. Erik Kurilla visited the Kingdom, where they discussed bilateral relations as well as the prospects for cooperation in various fields, a statement from the Saudi ministry said.

  • The Rise of Saudi Arabia’s Venture Capital Ecosystem: A 5-Year Reflection

    Against the gloomy picture painted in most regions, Saudi Arabia weathered this storm with success, becoming MENA’s leading market for venture capital funding, where $1.38BN was deployed in capital to Saudi-headquartered startups in 2023. Central to this was the investment in four MEGA deal rounds, investments greater than $100M+, which were closed by Nana, Floward, Tamara, and Tabby, with the latter announcing their relocation to the Kingdom in Q4 2023. These four deals together captured 64% of the capital deployed in the Kingdom.

  • The Rise of Saudi Arabia’s Venture Capital Ecosystem: A 5-Year Reflection

    2023 was a rollercoaster year for Venture Capital. Globally, VC funding fell to $248.4B in 2023, the lowest level since 2017, while transaction volume fell by 30% YoY to 29,303 deals in 2023, a 6-year low, as reported by CB Insights. This trend was against the backdrop of stricter monetary conditions, rising inflation, and, in some regions, geopolitical instability. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region is a prime example of this; amidst rising interest rates, technological disruptions, and geopolitical tensions, the number of deals in MENA reached its lowest levels since 2018, declining by 34%, while capital deployed retreated by 23% YoY, as reported in our MAGNiTT FY 2023 MENA Venture Investment Report.

  • UNRWA funding pauses come amid uncertainty over Gaza aid future

    The United States and its allies are suspending funding to a U.N. agency at a critical moment for Gaza. Before the war, roughly 80 percent of the population of the strip was reliant on international aid. Following months of conflict, the needs are only more dire, with almost 9 out of 10 people displaced and at least half of the buildings in the strip damaged or destroyed. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, played a vital role in distributing international aid to Gaza during the war. But after Israel alleged that more than a dozen UNRWA staff members were involved in the Hamas-led attacks on Israeli towns on Oct. 7, the United States and at least nine other donor countries have paused their funding pending further investigation.

  • U.S. sanctions 4 settlers, amid broader push to end Gaza war

    The United States today sanctioned four Israeli nationals under a new executive order signed by President Biden targeting perpetrators of extremist violence and intimidation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, amid a broader push by Washington to try to help negotiate an extended ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, get over 100 Israeli hostages freed, and get regional buy-in for a longer-term path for enduring peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians.

  • US sees signs Iran is worried about escalating proxy attacks amid heightened tensions

    US officials believe there are signs that Iranian leadership is nervous about some of the actions of its proxy groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, according to multiple people familiar with US intelligence, as attacks from militia groups threaten to disrupt the global economy and significantly up the risk of direct confrontation with the United States. The drone attack that killed three American soldiers at a US outpost in Jordan, which the US has attributed to the Iran-backed umbrella group Islamic Resistance in Iraq, caught Tehran by surprise and worried political leadership there, officials told CNN, citing US intelligence.

  • New-wave reactor technology could kick-start a nuclear renaissance — and the US is banking on it

    The Biden administration and American companies are plowing billions of dollars into SMRs in a bid for business and global influence. China is leading in nuclear technology and construction, and Russia is making almost all the world’s SMR fuel. The US is playing catch-up on both. There’s no mystery behind why the US wants in on the market. It already lost the wind and solar energy race to China, which now provides most of the world’s solar panels and wind turbines. The big problem: The US hasn’t managed to get an SMR working commercially on land.