The Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority “Monsha’at” announced that 2020 saw a record SAR 570 million invested in Saudi startups, a growth of more than 55% compared with 2019, according to the Venture Capital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2020 report issued by MAGNiTT, a company specializing in startup venture capital data, and sponsored by the Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC), which was founded by Monsha’at. The startup venture capital ecosystem in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia set new records despite the coronavirus pandemic, in terms of the volume of venture capital, the number of deals, and the number of venture capital funds and angel investor groups that invested in Saudi startups. The investments were spread across a record 88 deals in 2020, a growth of more than 35% compared with the previous year. The Kingdom held third place among the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the number of deals and the total value of venture capital, accounting for 15% of total venture capital value and 18% of the number of deals in the MENA region, while the rate of increase in startup deals in the Kingdom was the highest in the region. With these record figures, the total value of venture capital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia grew faster than the growth rate in the MENA region, where growth in total venture capital value across the region’s 17 countries did not exceed 13% in 2020 compared with 2019, according to the report, while the increase in Saudi Arabia reached 55%. In terms of the number of deals, the MENA region saw a decline of 13% in 2020 compared with 2019, while the Kingdom recorded an increase of 35%. The Governor of Monsha’at, Engineer Saleh bin Ibrahim Al-Rasheed, stated: “We continuously work to stimulate equity financing for SMEs and entrepreneurs, strengthen avenues for investing in startups at their various stages of growth, and make use of local capabilities by investing in companies at the early and growth stages, with the aim of providing financial returns to investors and achieving strategic returns that serve the growth of the Kingdom’s economy.” The CEO of SVC, Doctor Nabeel Koshak, stated: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is seeing growth in the size and quality of startup deals, not to mention the emergence of a growing number of venture capital funds and angel investor groups, and we are proud to see this number of outstanding entrepreneurs founding fast-growing, scalable startups.” He added: “Despite the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Kingdom saw a record increase in venture capital in 2020 compared with 2019, and under Saudi Vision 2030 many new initiatives have been launched in recent years to stimulate venture capital and startup growth. Saudi Arabia has always been an attractive market for entrepreneurs from the Kingdom and the region, given the sheer size of this market.”