Saudi Arabia’s venture capital ecosystem reached historic proportions in 2025, deploying a record $1.66 billion across 254 transactions. This performance, representing a 121% year-on-year growth, consolidates the Kingdom’s position as the leading VC market in the MENA region for the third consecutive year. In the first half of 2025 alone, Saudi Arabia captured 56% of all capital deployed in the region.
Institutional Maturity and “Sovereign Premium”
The 2025 data signals a shift from a capital-dependent startup scene to a capital-generative ecosystem. According to the 2025 State of Venture Capital Report by Jaree, a Riyadh-based matchmaking platform for accredited investors and startups, the market is increasingly defined by the “Sovereignty Premium”. Ventures that integrate deeply with national regulatory and data systems—such as Ejar (PropTech), SAMA (FinTech), and NPHIES (Health)—are commanding higher valuations and demonstrating greater technical defensibility.
Sector Deep Dive: Value Migration
The investment focus has moved away from general consumer applications toward foundational Systemic Orchestration Layers.
- FinTech: Remained the dominant sector, accounting for 32% of capital in H1 2025, driven by a shift from simple wallets to complex lending and SME banking.
- Q-Commerce: Emerged as a massive infrastructure play, highlighted by Ninja’s $250 million Series C round at a $1.5 billion valuation.
- PropTech & ConTech: Capitalized on the “Construction Boom Dividend,” with platforms like Mnzil ($11.7M) and Gathern ($72M) digitizing the Kingdom’s real estate and tourism experience.
- DeepTech & AI: Focused on infrastructure sovereignty, including PIF’s launch of HUMAIN to own the AI value chain and Strataphy’s geothermal cooling for data centers.
Jaree Strategic Portfolio Highlights
The Jaree platform has become a primary source for early-stage deal flow, connecting institutional investors, accelerators, and global funds with vetted Saudi ventures.
- Cargoz: An “Airbnb for warehouses” that provides SMEs with flexible, affordable storage solutions.
- Avrio: A FinTech solution for healthcare providers to convert insurance claims into immediate liquidity in under 48 hours.
- Resquad AI: An AI-powered B2B marketplace that monetizes idle developer capacity.
- Ertikaz Solutions: A unified digital ecosystem for the Saudi logistics sector, streamlining fleet finance and compliance.
- Ygii: A social commerce platform using consumer data for predictive gifting.
Tier-1 Global and Local Co-Investment
The Saudi ecosystem’s maturity is further validated by a 164% growth in international participation. Tier-1 global firms are now leading domestic strategic rounds, most notably Founders Fund (Peter Thiel’s fund) making its first lead investment in KSA through Mnzil’s Series A.
Jaree actively co-invests alongside the region’s most influential firms, including:
- STV
- Nama Ventures
- VentureSouq
- Tali Ventures (stc)
- Raz
- Lamarka
About Jaree
Founded in 2025 by venture capital professionals Faisal AlNaji and Noura AlNahedh, Jaree is a Riyadh-based platform designed to democratize access to the Saudi VC ecosystem. It acts as a bridge between vetted, high-potential startups and accredited investors, facilitating co-investment opportunities while providing tools for deal-making and fundraising.
Source: Jaree
