Saudi Arabia Pumps Investments Web3-related VC Companies

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, started investing in several Web3-related venture capital (VC) companies over the past months.

Sanabil, the PIF’s venture arm, had pumped investments in several Silicon Valley-based VC firms worth $2 billion annually in the form of multiple funding rounds over the past 18 months. Among these companies are Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), KKR, Coatue Management, and Peter Thiel-backed Valar Ventures.

According to The Information, Sanabil Investments disclosed partnerships with about 40 US venture capital firms in a move to diversify the public funds.

The Blockworks listed the VC companies in which the Saudi sovereign wealth fund had pumped investments, which are A16z, Polychain Capital, Griffin Gaming Partners, 500 Startups, 9Yards, B Capital, Collaborative Fund, Costanoa, Craft Ventures, Dragoneer, Greenoaks Capital, Human Capital, ICONIQ Capital, Insight Partners, KKR, Legend Capital, Race Capital, Soma Capital, TCV, Techstars, Third Point Venture, Uncorrelated, Valar Ventures, Valor Equity Partners and Village Global.

However, details about the investments are not revealed, nor the number of investments in each company nor the date of disclosure.

The Gulf country had disclosed deals with metaverse giants and hosted metaverse-related events over the past period. It had inked a memorandum of understanding with The Sandbox earlier this year. Meta also announced its intention to establish the first metaverse academy in the region in Saudi Arabia.

The metaverse is expected to contribute $15 billion to the economies of the Gulf countries by 2030 given that their governments are tapping into the virtual space, according to a study by Strategy&.

Saudi Arabia topped the GCC countries in terms of metaverse contributions, as it is predicted to account for $7.6 billion by 2030 (more than half of the figure. While the UAE came second with an expected share of $3.3 billion. The predicted figures reflect the two countries’ tremendous efforts to deploy the usage of the metaverse in their respective national program, the report noted.