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Saudi Arabia Advances Tech Hub Leadership Position with $888 Mln in Deals at LEAP 24 

Saudi Arabia further advanced its position as a regional tech and investment hub during LEAP 24, with the announcement on Tuesday of $888 million in investment funds and funding rounds backing innovation and tech entrepreneurship in the Kingdom and across the region. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia further advanced its position as a regional tech and investment hub during LEAP 24, with the announcement on Tuesday of $888 million in investment funds and funding rounds backing innovation and tech entrepreneurship in the Kingdom and across the region. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Advances Tech Hub Leadership Position with $888 Mln in Deals at LEAP 24 

Saudi Arabia further advanced its position as a regional tech and investment hub during LEAP 24, with the announcement on Tuesday of $888 million in investment funds and funding rounds backing innovation and tech entrepreneurship in the Kingdom and across the region. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia further advanced its position as a regional tech and investment hub during LEAP 24, with the announcement on Tuesday of $888 million in investment funds and funding rounds backing innovation and tech entrepreneurship in the Kingdom and across the region. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia further advanced its position as a regional tech and investment hub during LEAP 24, with the announcement on Tuesday of $888 million in investment funds and funding rounds backing innovation and tech entrepreneurship in the Kingdom and across the region.

On the second day of LEAP 24 in Riyadh, Investcorp launched a $500 million growth-stage fund.

Oasis Capital launched "Fund II" with a capital of $100 million.

The National Development Fund and the Social Development Bank established the $40 million Gaming and Esports Investment Fund, managed by Impact46.

Merak Capital established a fund with $80 million to support game accelerators in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia’s Takamol Holdings launched a $50 million investment arm, focused on funding early-stage tech companies.

Plug and Play launched its first fund to invest in technology startups, while X by Unifonic announced its first investment fund to support business software services for startups.

Funding rounds

As part of Saudi Arabia's position as the largest tech and digital economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, startups raised more than $53.4 million through funding rounds during LEAP 24.

BRKZ, a Saudi-based international information technology company, raised $8 million in a Series A round.

FanZ, a Saudi AI-enabled sport tech company, announced a pre-seed funding round of $1.5 million.

Lawazem, an online Saudi B2B supplies player, announced a pre-Series A round of $8 million to expand its operations, while RemotePass, a cross-border team onboarding services company, announced a Series A funding round of $5.5 million.

Moyasar, a Saudi payment gateway, announced a Series A funding round to scale operations across the MENA region as it deepens services in the Kingdom with Saudi-based Jahez.

Buildnow, a Saudi fintech company, announced a seed funding round led by RAED Ventures and Khawarizmi Venture Fund.

A liquidity bridge initiative was launched to support startups by providing immediate financial assistance, covering up to 50% of capital investment financing. The SourceTech initiative will grant financial support to incentivize technology outsourcing companies to establish and expand their services across the Kingdom.

NTPD initiatives

Saudi Arabia's National Technology Development Program (NTDP) launched five initiatives to expand the IT sector. These initiatives guide and source funding for pre-seed and early-stage startups. They will support emerging technologies focusing on priority sectors, such as Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, space technology, biotechnology, smart cities, mobility technology, open radio access networks, and deep tech.

NTDP launched the AIM initiative to stimulate the AI ecosystem and provide access to R&D infrastructure. The AIM initiative aims to elevate local talent, address sector challenges, and create projects with lasting impact over the next five years.

NTDP announced the AdoptTech initiative to bridge the technology gap for startups and small and medium-sized companies in the Kingdom. The initiative will accelerate digital transformation for companies, enhancing a robust technological ecosystem and providing financial assistance and access to technological solutions.

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Business

Saudi Arabia Allows Contracting Exceptions for Firms without Regional HQ

The King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Allows Contracting Exceptions for Firms without Regional HQ

The King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has introduced greater flexibility into its investment environment, allowing government entities, under strict controls to safeguard spending efficiency and ensure the delivery of critical projects, to seek exceptions to contract with international companies that do not have regional headquarters in the kingdom.

The Local Content and Government Procurement Authority notified all government bodies of the mechanism to apply for exemptions through the Etimad digital platform.

The step is designed to balance enforcement of the “regional headquarters relocation” decision, in force since early 2024, with the needs of technically specialized projects or those driven by intense price competition.

Under a government decision that took effect at the start of 2024, state entities, including authorities, institutions and government-affiliated funds, are barred from contracting with any foreign commercial company whose regional headquarters in the region is located outside Saudi Arabia.

According to the information, the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority informed all entities of the rules governing contracts with companies that lack a regional headquarters in the kingdom and related parties.

Government entities may request an exemption from the committee for specific projects, multiple projects or a defined time period, provided the application is submitted before launching a tender or initiating direct contracting procedures.

Submission mechanism

In two circulars, the authority detailed how to submit exemption requests and clarified the cases in which contracting is permitted under the controls. It said the exemption service was launched on the Etimad platform in November 2025.

The service is available to entities that float tenders through Etimad. Requests for tenders launched before the service went live, as well as those issued outside the platform, will continue to follow the previously adopted process.

Etimad is the kingdom’s official financial services portal run by the Ministry of Finance, aimed at driving digital transformation of government procedures and boosting transparency and efficiency in managing budgets, contracts, payments, tenders and procurement. The platform streamlines transactions between state entities and the private sector.

Technical criteria

When issuing the contracting controls, the government made clear that companies without a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia, or related parties, are not barred from bidding for public tenders.

However, their offers can only be accepted in two cases: if there is no more than one technically compliant bid, or if the offer ranks among the best technically and is at least 25% lower in price than the second-best bid after overall evaluation.

Contracts with an estimated value of no more than 1 million riyals ($266,000) are also exempt. The minister may, in the public interest, amend the threshold, cancel the exemption or suspend it temporarily.

More than 700 headquarters

More than 700 multinational companies had relocated their regional headquarters to Riyadh by early 2026, exceeding the initial target of attracting 500 companies by 2030. The program seeks to cement the kingdom’s position as a regional business hub and to localize global expertise.

When announcing the contracting ban, Saudi Arabia said the move was intended to incentivize foreign firms dealing with the government and its affiliated entities to adjust their operations.

It aims to create jobs, curb economic leakage, raise spending efficiency and ensure that key goods and services procured by government entities are delivered inside the kingdom with appropriate local content.

The government said the policy aligns with the objectives of the Riyadh 2030 strategy unveiled during the recent Future Investment Initiative forum, where 24 multinational companies announced plans to move their regional headquarters to the Saudi capital.

It stressed that the decision does not affect any investor’s ability to enter the Saudi economy or continue working with the private sector.

 

Business

IMF Board to Review Staff-level $8.1 Bln Agreement for Ukraine

The city's downtown on a frosty winter day, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
The city's downtown on a frosty winter day, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
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IMF Board to Review Staff-level $8.1 Bln Agreement for Ukraine

The city's downtown on a frosty winter day, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
The city's downtown on a frosty winter day, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Alina Smutko

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said its board ​would review a staff-level agreement for a new $8.1 billion lending program for Ukraine in coming days.

IMF spokeswoman Jule Kozack told reporters that Ukrainian authorities had completed the prior actions needed to move forward with the request ⁠of a new ⁠IMF program, including submission of a draft law on the labor code and adoption of a budget.

She said Ukraine's economic growth in 2025 ⁠was likely under 2%. After four years of war, the country's economy had settled into a slower growth path with larger fiscal and current account balances, she said, noting that the IMF continues to monitor the situation closely.

"Russia's invasion continues to take a ⁠heavy ⁠toll on Ukraine's people and its economy," Kozack said. Intensified aerial attacks by Russia had damaged critical energy and logistics infrastructure, causing disruptions to economic activity, Reuters quoted her as saying.

As of January, she said, 5 million Ukrainian refugees remained in Europe and 3.7 million Ukrainians were displaced inside the country.

Business

US Stocks Fall as Iran Angst Lifts Oil Prices

A screen displays a stock chart at a work station on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
A screen displays a stock chart at a work station on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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US Stocks Fall as Iran Angst Lifts Oil Prices

A screen displays a stock chart at a work station on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
A screen displays a stock chart at a work station on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Wall Street stocks retreated early Thursday as worries over US-Iran tensions lifted oil prices while markets digested mixed results from Walmart.

US oil futures rose to a six-month high as Iran's atomic energy chief Mohammad Eslami said no country can deprive the Islamic republic of its right to nuclear enrichment, after US President Donald Trump again hinted at military action following talks in Geneva.

"We'd call this an undercurrent of concern that is bubbling up in oil prices," Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said of the "geopolitical angst."

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.6 percent at 49,379.46, AFP reported.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.5 percent to 6,849.35, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.6 percent to 22,621.38.

Among individual companies, Walmart rose 1.7 percent after reporting solid results but offering forecasts that missed analyst expectations.

Shares of the retail giant initially fell, but pushed higher after Walmart executives talked up artificial intelligence investments on a conference call with analysts.

The US trade deficit in goods expanded to a new record in 2025, government data showed, despite sweeping tariffs that Trump imposed during his first year back in the White House.