RIYADH, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia attracted 446 million U.S. dollars of venture capital (VC) investment in the first half of 2023, making it the most popular country with VC in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
Saudi enterprises attracted 42 percent of the total VC capital invested in the MENA region between January and June, up from 31 percent in 2022, the report said, citing statistics released by the Dubai-based data platform MAGNiTT.
The E-commerce and retail sector registered the highest amount of VC investment by raking in 368 million U.S. dollars, or 83 percent of the VC funds received by Saudi Arabia, it said.
Nabeel Koshak, CEO and board member of the Saudi government investment company SVC, attributed the kingdom's popularity with VC funding to the governmental initiatives to stimulate the VC and startups ecosystem within the Saudi Vision 2030, as well as the emergence of active private investors and innovative entrepreneurs.
