Saudi Arabia’s thriving fintech sector will be receiving an $80 million boost. The windfall comes courtesy of Saudi Venture Capital Co.

SVC recently established the Investment in Fintech VC Fund. It was also launched in partnership with the Capital Market Authority (CMA). It’s also supported by the country’s Financial Sector Development Programme (FSDP).

SVC unveiled its latest move during this year’s Financial Sector Conference. This happened in Riyadh.

The $80 million investment fund aims to preserve the growth of Saudi’s fintech sector. The industry attracted around 25% of the Kingdom’s venture capital funding in 2022.

SVC intends to revitalize and maintain financing for startups. They’re also focused on small and medium enterprises. The company will support these ventures. They’ll be there from its earliest stages to the initial public offering made. They’re set to invest around $1.6 billion by co-investing in startups. They’ll also do this by supporting venture capital and private equity firms in the Kingdom.

SVC is always driven to empower SMEs and startups in Saudi Arabia. To that end, it has even signed a memorandum of understanding with Tadawul. The MoU was already signed last month and done to help SMEs transition to the public arena.

The venture company will place its new investment in the Kingdom’s fintech ecosystem. This area raised $239 million in funding back in 2022.

The Kingdom’s venture capital market is one of the most robust markets around the world. It’s also one of the most compelling. It secured funding of $987 million last year. That’s an impressive 72% rise from 2021’s efforts.

What’s more impressive is 2022’s funding boom happened as global investments went down. Crunchbase noted that investments had a 35% year-on-year decrease. America’s venture market even plummeted by 37%. Egypt and UAE also experienced a decline in funding movement last year. And these two countries are the region’s top venture markets.

Saudi Arabia’s fintech growth can become attributed to many savvy government initiatives. These moves have helped stimulate its fintech sector. One example is the Saudi FinTech initiative rolled out by the Saudi Central Bank. This was in partnership with the CMA. It’s a stimulus action aimed at enhancing the sector’s role in the country’s socioeconomic growth. The country is also positioning fintech as a pillar in its Vision 2030.

SVC is a government investment company founded in 2018. It’s under the SME bank. The company has already invested in 35 funds. These financed 525 companies via 904 deals.