Aramco’s VC arm Wa’ed Ventures prepared a $100 million pot to finance early-stage AI start-ups and appointed a global advisory board to oversee the move, as it seeks to bolster Saudi Arabia’s ambitions around the technology.

The funding is expected to help generate “a strong pipeline of global early-stage AI start-ups”, aligning with a wider goal to position Saudi Arabia as an AI hotspot, said Wa’ed Ventures in an announcement.

Complementing the move is the appointment of a global advisory board composed of experts and investors in the AI field who have worked at large organisations, including Meta Platforms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Amazon and University of Oxford.

Wa’ed Ventures has a total VC fund worth $500 million.

In July, it invested $15 million in South Korean chip designer Rebellions and contributed to a funding round for US-based aiXplain for an undisclosed sum.

Acting CEO of Wa’ed Ventures, Anas Algahtani, explained its decision to invest in AI companies “is rooted in a deep understanding of the Kingdom’s growing ecosystem”.

“By fostering innovation and supporting AI startups, we aim to accelerate the development of cutting-edge technologies that will drive economic growth, improve quality of life, and position Saudi Arabia as a global leader in AI,” Algahtani said, adding the investment would help encourage local talent and localise global ones. 

Citing data from PwC, Wa’ed Ventures stated Saudi Arabia’s gain from AI is expected to exceed other countries in the Middle East, with an estimated $135 billion in value by 2030.

AI is also expected to contribute to more than 12 per cent of the country’s GDP in the same year.