New Native launches $100 million AI VC fund
New Native launches $100 million AI VC fund
New fund to power the region's fastest-growing AI accelerator
#Saudi #venturecapital - Global AI startup ecosystem and platform New Native announced a $100 million new venture capital fund yesterday, focused on investments in seed stage and early stage artificial intelligence startups in Saudi Arabia. New Native launched GAIA, the region's first dedicated AI accelerator programme in Riyadh last year, in collaboration with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) and the National Technology Development Programme (NTDP). The new fund, which will be closed during the next few weeks, was announced during GAIA's 2nd Cohort Demo Day held at The Garage in King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) last night.
SO WHAT? - GAIA (Generative AI Accelerator) was launched in Riyadh less than a year ago as the region's first dedicated Gen AI startup accelerator programme. GAIA onboarded 50 AI startups during its first six months, making it the largest and fastest growing specialised AI accelerator in the Middle East. The New Native AI Fund will power the Saudi programme, which aims to create 300 new high-impact AI companies within 36 months, through early-stage funding, mentorship, and AI technology access.
GAIA was launched in Riyadh during July last year as the first generative AI early-stage accelerator programme in the Middle East.
Formed as a collaboration between Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), the National Technology Development Programme (NTDP) and New Native, the accelerator's goal is to create 300 new AI companies within 36 months.
Sourcing promising startups and entrepreneurs via AI hackathons, the 10-week accelerator programme takes place at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Riyadh, in The Garage startup facility.
New Native's Lablab hackathon platform brings together talent, experts, and resources to generate proof-of-concept projects in generative AI, providing a pipeline for GAIA.
The new $100 million New Native AI Fund is managed by Mempool Ventures and will invest in high-impact AI startups exiting the accelerator programme, which attracts AI startups from across the globe.
The fund's goal is to be the 'first cheque', providing a seed investment of $100,000. The fund will also make follow-on investments in the highest impact startups with a ticket size of $0.5-1 million.
New Native CEO, Pawel Czech also announced yesterday that New Native had joined the AI Alliance, a global IBM-backed community of technology creators, developers and adopters collaborating to advance safe, responsible AI.
The announcements were made during GAIAI's 2nd Cohort Demo Day, during which 15 AI startups presented their business concepts to a room full of investors, government officials and business leaders.
ZOOM OUT - Spending in excess of $34 billion* on ICT last year, Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in digital transformation across all sectors, driving demand for artificial intelligence solutions. According to management consultancy PwC, AI is projected to contribute $135 billion to the Saudi economy by 2030, making the Kingdom the primary beneficiary of the technology in the Middle East. Its extensive and well-funded digital transformation programmes, skills development initiatives and high-tech industry investments, not only create opportunities for local AI entrepreneurs and developers, but also ensure that the country will continue to attract global AI talent and vendors for many years.
IMO - No other startup ecosystem player in the Middle East can currently match New Native's ability to attract, source and qualify regional and global AI startups for its accelerator programmes.
The company's global hackathon platform Lablab.ai and regional Arabic language version Lablab.me are sure to provide a steady pipeline of top developer talent and proof-of-concepts more reliably and efficiently than any other means. Therefore it also stands to reason, that the company's programmes will continue to discover and create new ventures that few other ecosystems can hope to find.
* IDC estimate
LINKS