SparkLabs launches $50 million fund for Saudi AIM-X accelerator

$50 million fund announced for Saudi Arabia's new AIM-X startup programme

#Saudi #funding - Global early-stage venture capital firm SparkLabs Group has launched the SparkLabs AIM AI Fund with confirmed investment of $50 million, which will invest in participants in the AIM-X artificial intelligence startup programme. SparkLabs unveiled AIM-X in June, as the official AI startup programme under Saudi Arabia’s Artificial Intelligence Mission (AI.M), which aims to bolster the Kingdom's leadership in AI over the next five years. Originally announced at LEAP24 in March, AI.M was created by Saudi’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology's National Technology Development Program (NTDP), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and Saudi Data & Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA).

SO WHAT? - AIM-X is one of a number of high profile AI ecosystem programmes announced by Saudi Arabia this year and backed by Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) and the National Technology Development Programme (NTDP). The programme opened for startup applications in June and will commence on September 15th - just six months after AI.M was first announced by the NTDP. The fast roll-out and fund-raising of AIM-X reflects both Sparklabs global success as a venture capital firm and startup programme, and the fast speed at which Saudi Arabia is expanding its AI startup ecosystem.

Here are some key details about the announcement AIM-X programme:

• SparkLabs Group has launched the SparkLabs AIM AI Fund with $50 million that will invest in the AIM-X AI startup accelerator participants in Saudi Arabia, along with leading AI startups across the globe.

• AIM-X is an AI-focused startup accelerator operated by SparkLabs Saudi Arabia, under Saudi Arabia’s Artificial Intelligence Mission (AI.M), which is an initiative managed by the National Technology Development Programme (NTDP).

• AI.M aims to stimulate a comprehensive ecosystem of AI innovation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to boost its leadership role regionally and globally in the field of artificial intelligence within the next 5 years.

• The overall goals of AI.M are to create 20-25 AI foundation models for Saudi national priorities, graduate 800-1,000 highly skilled talent in AI and machine learning, develop 30-50 AI-native solutions for industrial and government partners, and create and attract 80-100 AI-Native ventures backed by R&D in Saudi Arabia. AIM-X was launched to address the last goal.

• The AI.M initiative was developed by Saudi’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology's National Technology Development Program (NTDP), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and Saudi Data & Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA).

• SparkLabs’ has a broad range of advisors for accelerator and early-stage investments, including: Amr Awadallah, Co-founder of Cloudera and now Co-founder and CEO at Vectara; and Sang Cha, Founder of the Graduate School of Data Science at Seoul National University and Transact In Memory.

• Venture partners include Spiros Margaris, a venture capitalist and the global No. 1 fintech and leading AI influencer; Nathan Lands, the Founder of Lore.com; Nils Westerlund, who leads the growth team at RunwayML; Joel Pazhayampallil, Co-founder and CEO at Bluespace.ai; and Brian Behlendorf, CTO at the OpenWallet Foundation and Chief AI Strategist at the Linux Foundation.

• Led by SparkLabs Fintech Co-founder Willian Chu, the AIM-X startup accelerator opened for applications from AI startups in June, closed applications in July and will begin the programme with its first cohort of 14 AI startups in Saudi Arabia on September 15th.

• According to SparkLabs, the first batch of AIM-X startups includes companies that will hit $3 million, $5 million and $10 million in revenue for 2024. Nine companies in the cohord have already raised $1.5 million or more before joining AIM-X, and five of the startups have raised more than $3 million prior to joining.

Read more about the AIM-X AI startup accelerator:

• SparkLabs launches AI.M startup accelerator in Saudi Arabia (Middle East AI News0