Jordan fund invests $5 million in STV
Partnership backs Jordanian AI start-ups, opens Jordan-Saudi corridor
#Jordan #funds - Amman-based Innovative Start-ups and SMEs Fund (ISSF), a $98 million venture fund established in 2017 by the Central Bank of Jordan and The World Bank, has agreed to invest $5 million in a Google-backed $100 million AI fund run by Riyadh-headquartered Saudi Technology Ventures (STV). In return, STV has committed to invest directly in Jordanian AI start-ups, with both sides aiming to build an AI investment corridor between Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The agreement was signed in Amman last week.
SO WHAT? - The deal gives Jordanian start-ups a direct route into one of the Gulf’s largest venture funds at a moment when regional AI capital is concentrating heavily around Saudi and Emirati money. For ISSF, a fund whose backers are the Central Bank of Jordan and the World Bank, it marks a shift from purely domestic early-stage funding toward acting as a bridge that channels Gulf capital and expertise into Jordan’s tech sector.
KEY POINTS:
Innovative Start-ups and SMEs Fund (ISSF), a $98 million Jordanian fund set up in 2017 with $48 million from the Central Bank of Jordan and $50 million from The World Bank, will invest $5 million in Saudi Technology Ventures’ Google-backed AI fund.
STV, the largest technology investment firm in the Middle East with over $1.5 billion in assets under management, has committed to investing in Jordanian AI start-ups in return.
The agreement was signed in Amman last week by ISSF CEO Mohammed Al Muhtaseb and STV founder and CEO Abdulrahman Tarabzouni, with STV’s executive management and Jordanian entrepreneurs in attendance.
STV’s AI fund, backed by Google, focuses on generative and applied AI, investing in software and practical AI solutions for businesses and institutions across multiple sectors.
The partnership aims to build an AI investment corridor between Jordan and Saudi Arabia, giving Jordanian entrepreneurs access to STV’s investment network and regional platform.
This marks ISSF’s second commitment under its second fund, following a first phase through 2025 that received the World Bank’s highest performance rating.
STV’s investment strategy centres on applications built using proprietary enterprise data to solve business problems, rather than developing foundational language models, betting on continued growth in the AI applications market.
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Riyadh, STV manages more than $800 million in assets focused on scaling early to growth-stage technology companies across the MENA region.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Source: ISSF / STV