Saudi Venture Capital (SVC), a Saudi government-backed fund of funds, is investing $15 million investment in Saqr Fund II, the second fund by Dammam-based early-stage investor Vision Ventures, the two firms announced in a statement on Tuesday.
The fund, targeting a size of $90 million, invests in early-stage startups from pre-seed to pre-series B stages across Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East & North Africa, following a sector-agnostic approach.
This investment marks SVC’s second time as an anchor investor in a Vision Ventures fund. The second fund was launched in 2022 and has already invested in at least one startup; Saudi-based Rewaa—a SaaS startup building POS and inventory management software for retailers.
The first fund of Vision Ventures was one-third in size. Some of its notable investments include early cheques in Salla, Rain, The Chefz, and Gathern.
Earlier this year, the firm exited a part of its stake in ecommerce software startup Salla, generating an impressive 225x return on its investment. The stake was sold as part of secondaries in Salla’s pre-IPO $130 million round led by Investcorp and Sanabil Investments. Vision Ventures first invested in Salla in its seed round in 2018.
Vision Ventures was founded in 2016 by Al-Essa and Haitham Bu-Aisha, who previously built Sahara Net as one of the first Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the Kingdom. Their first investments came from the balance sheet before the launch of their first GP/LP fund in 2018.
Kais Al-Essa, Founding Partner and CEO of Vision Ventures, commenting on SVC’s investment, said, “SVC’s continued commitment towards our venture capital funds is a privilege. We are proud to have SVC as an anchor investor in our fund once again. Our ability to provide investors with exceptional performance and returns continues to attract investors along with exceptional anchor investors such as SVC.”
“Due to our entrepreneurial beginnings, we are best positioned to identify, partner with, and foster the growth of multiple startup and founder teams toward amazing results. We are passionate about what we do, and we have the track record to prove it,” he added.
Dr. Nabeel Koshak, CEO and Board Member at SVC, said, “Our investment in the venture capital fund by Vision Ventures is part of SVC’s Investment in Funds Program, in alignment with our strategy to catalyze venture investments and minimize fund-raising entry barriers for fund managers who are looking to invest in Saudi-based high-growth startups during their different growth stages.”
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