Riyadh – Mubasher: The venture capital (VC) industry in Saudi Arabia has grown by 65% year-on-year (YoY) to hit its highest semi-annual funding amount in the first half (H1) of 2021.
There was a 7% decrease in VC transactions YoY in H1-21, a recent report by Magnitt revealed.
However, Saudi Arabia’s startups received $168 million in venture funding in the first six months of this year, which accounted for 94% of the capital deployed in the Kingdom during the full year 2020. This has put the ecosystem on track for a record-breaking year of VC funding.
The Kingdom secured the second largest share of funding across the MENA countries in H1-21, contributing to 14% of capital invested into MENA ventures. This was backed by a 77% surge in the average round size YoY.
Saudi fintech startups raised 1,738% more capital on an annual basis in H1-21, while funding into e-commerce plunged 54%.
The country moved closer to capital allocation trend across the region, as the five biggest deals contributed to 45% of the venture funding in MENA.
“Accelerated deals in Saudi Arabia did not return to pre-pandemic levels, further contributing to the decline in deals,” according to the report.
