VIDEO: Wa’ed casts investment eye toward early-stage AI startups

Ahmad O. Al Khowaiter, executive vice president of Technology and Innovation

TecShift, Entrepreneurship Summit, Ithra

Welcome to Ithra, and welcome to TecShift.

A comprehensive innovation ecosystem does not emerge spontaneously. It takes thoughtful and deliberate cultivation.

That is something that Aramco has engaged in for years through a variety of mechanisms.

Aramco Ventures now manages more than $7 billion worldwide to invest in start-ups and high-growth companies, both within and outside the energy sector.

Wa’ed Ventures invests in Saudi Arabia and around the world with a focus on attracting global companies to localize their technologies in the Kingdom.

We are excited to announce that Wa’ed is allocating $100 million to invest inclusively in early-stage AI startups.

Last year, we also launched the Saudi Accelerated Innovation Lab, or SAIL; it focuses specifically on supporting innovative ideas int he digital arena.

Now, in an especially exciting development, I am delighted to announce the public launch of LAB7.

LAB7 is Aramco’s Innovation and Product Development Center, or the hard-tech venture builder. It partners with entrepreneurs to build new products, providing a continuum of support all the way to start-up establishment and market entry.

Through these entities, Aramco brings stakeholders together and catalyzes the development of exciting new technologies across a variety of sectors.

All the necessary components are assembled here in this room: ideas, funding, networks, and expertise.

It’s time to get to work and challenge the world.