Alkhabeer Starts Venture Fund for Saudi Startup Companies

Saudi Arabia’s Alkhabeer Capital is setting up a venture capital fund to invest in technology start-ups.

Alkhabeer Ventures will target mobile, e-commerce, news media and social media startups and new technologies like 3D imaging in Saudi Arabia, the company said today in a statement. Alkhabeer will seek companies in their first-round of fundraising and exit through trade sales or initial public offerings. The company didn’t disclose the size of the fund.

Alkhabeer is seeking to capitalize on high-levels of social media and other technology usage in Saudi Arabia. The country has the third highest smartphone penetration levels in the world, behind the United Arab Emirates and South Korea, according to the Our Mobile Planet survey by Google. It also has the highest number of YouTube views per internet user in the world, according to the video hosting site. Riyad Capital said in June that is was planning to launch a $270 million venture capital fund also targeting Saudi technology startups.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has an energetic, entrepreneurial and inherently ambitious young population with an obvious predisposition to new technologies,” Khalid Suleimani, head of Alkhabeer Ventures said today in the statement. “However, until now, there has been little in the way of private sector support, in terms of funding. The launch of Alkhabeer Ventures will change that.”