Wa'ed Ventures
Aramco-backed venture arm investing in technology and financial infrastructure.
INVESTMENT THESIS
Venture rounds up to USD 20m per deal in deep and emerging technology — AI, fintech, robotics, space, sustainability. Backs Saudi startups and global companies willing to localise. USD 100m reserved for AI under a dedicated advisory board.
FINTECH RECORD
PORTFOLIO SAMPLE
The natural home for fintech with a deep technical core — infrastructure, novel Islamic finance, anything touching supply chains or industry. In those fields Aramco itself can be your first customer. Its Dhahran base makes it the closest institutional capital to the Eastern Province.
WHAT IT DOES
ACTIVITIES CLEARED FOR
WHY THERE IS NO ACTIVITY LIST
HOW TO ENGAGE
1 ROUTEWarm introductions materially outperform cold outreach here. The local ecosystem is small enough that a referral is almost always available.
Investment conversation
Equity or growth capital. Fintech took 29% of all Saudi startup funding in 2025, so the category has attention — but regulatory readiness is diligenced hard.
WHAT YOU WILL BE ASKED FOR
- Licence status stated plainly, including what you do not hold
- Unit economics with the cost of compliance in them
- A regulatory timeline the fund can underwrite
VIA A WARM INTRODUCTION WHERE POSSIBLE · TYPICAL TIMEFRAME 2–6 MONTHS TO CLOSE