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  • Saudi Arabia’s startup investment poised to set new record

    Venture-backed startups in Saudi Arabia have been bolstered by a confluence of favorable trends in recent years—including low interest rates, increasing urbanization, demand for online groceries, pro-business reforms and a sharp rise in oil revenues. The momentum has catapulted VC deal value in the region, reaching more than $425 million so far this year, on pace to surpass record levels of 2021, according to PitchBook data.

  • Women own 45% of startups in Saudi Arabia: Report

    According to a report issued by the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monsha'at), the percentage of enterprises owned by women reached 45 percent, of the total owners of start-ups, until the first half of 2022, which is double the percentage achieved in 2017.

  • Women own 45% of startups in Saudi Arabia: Report

    In this context, the report stated that the number of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Kingdom reached 892,063 by the end of the first half of this year, an increase of 25.6 percent compared to the last quarter of 2021. The report stated that the food and beverage sector obtained the largest percentage of investment financing in the first half of this year.

  • Saudi Arabia’s startup investment poised to set new record

    As part of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 strategy, the country launched the Financial Sector Development Program to move toward a cashless society and enable financial institutions to support the private sector. The latest in the slew of freshly funded startups in the region is Tamara, a provider of a buy now, pay later platform. The company raised $100 million in a round led by Sanabil Investments, Arab News reported.

  • Saudi Arabia’s female workforce participation witnesses positive growth in Q1 2022: Report

    Over the last five years, the number of women with jobs has almost doubled in Saudi Arabia. When companies worldwide witnessed female participation in the workforce plummeting, Saudi Arabia’s female workforce participation soared over 33% in Q1 2022. The participation was reportedly around 20% in 2019.

  • Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia partners with Venice initiative

    The Red Sea International Film Festival is collaborating with Final Cut, a programme by Venice Production Bridge that supports projects from Middle Eastern and African countries. The initiative, now in its 10th year at the Venice Film Festival, will help films in post-production from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria as well as African countries. The Red Sea International Film Festival, which ran for the first time in Saudi Arabia last year, is supporting two works in Final Cut — Inshallah A Boy, a dark comedy by Amjad Al Rasheed and The Cemetery of Cinema, a documentary by Thierno Souleymane Diallo.

  • Saudi starts construction of Jeddah Central development project

    The official Saudi Press Agency said JCDC “has started construction works” on the project and signed a new contract as part of the project involving marine and infrastructure works, demolition of nearly 400 old buildings in the first phase and re-direction of nearly 6.5 kilometres (km) of power cables in the area.

  • MBC Media Solutions and Saudi Sports Company renew partnership

    SSC, which airs Saudi Arabia’s top sporting competitions along with the world’s most popular leagues and sports, will be broadcasting across a roster of channels, which continue to be accessible through both GoBox & Shahid subscription services. At the helm of the sports catalogue is football, the most followed sport in the Kingdom with some matches reaching a 52 per cent share of the audience and 40 per cent of Saudi households. Households who watched these matches completed 80 per cent of the whole match.

  • Here’s when it will start cooling down in Saudi Arabia

    The Suhail star, also known as Canopus, is the most-anticipated star in the Arab world as its appearance signals the beginning of the end of summer. Therefore, the days will get shorter, and temperatures in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states will begin to decrease. The giant, bright white-yellowish star appears on August 24 before sunrise, and it is not hard to spot since Suhail is the second brightest star in the night sky – next to Sirius from the constellation Canis Major.

  • Saudi Arabia’s FinTech start-up Tamara raises $100m to fund expansion plans

    Saudi Arabia's buy now, pay later platform Tamara raised $100 million in its second funding round to back its expansion plans and is also considering an initial public offering in the future, its chief executive has said. Tamara's Series B funding round was led by Sanabil Investments, which is backed by the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, the start-up said in a statement on Monday.