SME

In what is seen as an important move to support the country’s businesses, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has extended financing for the private sector for a full year.

SAMA extended the Guaranteed Financing Program – one of its private sector financing support programmes – for one more year until 14 March 2023 to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“This step is consistent with SAMA's mandate of promoting financial sector stability, supporting economic growth, and enhancing the Saudi Central Bank's support to MSMEs growth and to overcome challenges that arise from COVID-19 preventive measures,” SAMA said.

MSMEs can benefit from the Guaranteed Financing Program through banks and financing companies that are subject to the supervision of the bank and are members of Kafalah, the Small and Medium Enterprises Funding Guarantee Program.

Since 14 March 2020, the programme has offered help to more than13,000 businesses with total financing value surpassing SAR 11 billion.

Meanwhile, the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority, or Monshaat, is collaborating with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology to launch the National Business Innovation Portal, part of the National Innovation System Forum.

The portal provides entrepreneurs with the support tools necessary for their projects.

“The newly launched portal includes a set of specialised sections that guide business innovators through the stages necessary to bring a project to success, offer a search engine that reviews services provided by over 60 governmental and private entities in the kingdom and contain information resources dedicated to the Saudi innovation market,” the companies said.

              

SUPPORTING DIGITAL START-UPS

KACST also recently launched “The Garage,” an innovation hub to support emerging and disruptive technology based start-ups. The Garage enables cutting-edge technology start-ups by providing integrated services that include business incubation, mentorship programmes, enrichment activities, and an open area workspace.

The platform is the result of a multi-stakeholder partnership between KACST, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), and the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP). It will facilitate closely aligned activities and open access to KACST’s labs, rapid prototyping facilities and specialised capabilities that will provide additional support and technical services to entrepreneurs, especially in “deep-tech” start-ups.

“The Garage seeks to establish a successfully proven innovative environment, such as Silicon Valley, Station F and others,” said Dr. Munir Eldesouki, president of KACST. “It aims to create a similar start-up culture that integrates innovation processes, creative thinking, design testing, and entrepreneurship under one roof, while attracting the brightest minds from across the kingdom and abroad, encouraging them to turn their dreams into realities, their ideas into innovations, and their start-ups into unicorns.

Initiatives from the grant could reach up to SAR 100,000, while investments may exceed SAR 500,000 for the most promising start-ups.

KACST is eyeing start-ups specialising in emerging and disruptive technologies related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and Digital Technologies of the Future.

 

BRISK VENTURE CAPITAL ACTIVITY

Saudi Arabia’s start-up scene also received fresh impetus from a string of financing and acquisition announcements in recent months

Food tech start-up Yaa recently raised USD 2.1 million in a new funding round backed by Tasaru Holding. The start-up, founded in 2020, focuses on production and supply of fresh raw materials and basic food products for restaurants and businesses in six Saudi cities. The company boasts over 100 products, more than 300 items, and a monthly production capacity of 300 tonnes. It said it will use the funding to expand geographically in Saudi Arabia and boost production levels.

Saudi-based crowdfunding platform Funding Souq also closed a USD 2.5 million seed round led by a group of angel investors including Amal Dokhan (partner at 500 Global), Omar Aljeraisi, and Christian Kunz (head of strategy at a leading global financial centre). Existing investors include Mazin Alzaidi (partner at STV ), Musaab Hakami, and Islamic Finance Guru.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Taker acquired Brisk Delivery, in a move that will strengthen its service TakerGo, which connects restaurants to delivery service providers in the kingdom. Brisk Delivery specialises in logistics software and provides delivery services across many sectors including the F&B industry

Saudi-based ecommerce platform Sary has acquired Mowarrid, a B2B marketplace in Egypt.

“After raising the highest E-commerce funding round in Egypt (USD 75 million Series C), this acquisition reflects a strategic move for Sary toward its expansion plans throughout the North African markets starting from Egypt, the second-largest economy in Africa, and the third-largest in the Arab world with a USD 60 billion wholesale and retail trade industry,” according to Magnitt, which tracks the regional start-up industry.