(credit: Hamad I Mohammed | Reuters)
Saudi capital ranks 23rd, backed by AI and venture capital surge.
Riyadh 鈥 The Saudi capital has vaulted 60 places in three years to claim the 23rd spot among the world鈥檚 top 100 emerging startup ecosystems, as recorded in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2025 published by Startup Genome and the Global Entrepreneurship Network. The Saudi Press Agency called the jump a milestone for Vision 2030鈥檚 economic diversification push.
According to the Startup Genome report, Saudi Arabia has attracted more than $2.6 billion in venture capital since 2018 through government-backed vehicles such as Saudi Venture Capital Company, Jada, and the Public Investment Fund, and now ranks third in MENA for startup funding. Mordor Intelligence data projects the local ICT market will reach $54.90 billion in 2025 and $82.51 billion by 2030.
Artificial intelligence has become the ecosystem鈥檚 sharpest edge. HUMAIN, the full-stack AI firm launched under the Public Investment Fund in May 2025, announced an expanded partnership with NVIDIA in November, according to a company press release. The venture plans to deploy up to 600,000 of NVIDIA鈥檚 latest AI infrastructure technologies over three years, including GB300 platforms, and is extending operations to AI data centres in the United States.
On the ground, Monsha鈥檃t, the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises, is identified as a central growth driver. In Q1 2025, commercial registrations surged 48 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 1.68 million active registrations nationwide, according to Monsha鈥檃t data. In June, the authority led five potential unicorns to VivaTech 2025 in Paris.
鈥淥ur participation at VivaTech 2025 was a tremendous opportunity to not only showcase several of the best young startups and concepts coming out of the Kingdom,鈥 Saud Alsabhan, Vice Governor of Entrepreneurship at Monsha鈥檃t, said in a press release.
The Startup Genome report noted Riyadh鈥檚 ecosystem recorded the most significant MENA growth of any Top 100 Emerging ecosystem, with major exits including rasan.co鈥檚 $1.1 billion valuation. Confirmed unicorns include Tamara, Tabby, STC Pay, and Foodics. Institutional accelerators spanning fintech, AI, and enterprise tech form the ecosystem鈥檚 backbone, providing mentorship, networking, and early-stage investment, according to Grant Thornton.
Samantha Evans, MENA Managing Director at Startup Genome, told Arab News: 鈥淭he Gulf is one of the few markets in the world where ambition, alignment, and execution converge. This is not a speculative bet 鈥 it鈥檚 a strategic inflection point.鈥
Source: SPA
