Technology & IT | Sunday 27 May, 2018 5:37 am |

The technology startups incubated by Badir Program, one of the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology main initiatives, have successfully raised around SR 8,830 million ($2,347 million) in the first quarter of 2018 through 9 funding deals.

The total funding has been increased to SR138.291 million ($36,877 million) since the inceptoion of the program in 2012 until the end of April 2018, statistics issued recently by Badir Program for Technology Incubators revealed.

Badir statistics showed an increase in the technical startups funding deals by venture capital companies, with declared investments in the first quarter of 2018 reaching about SR4,930 million ($1,314 million) and individual investors came in second with financial support to such companies at SR 3,9 million ($1,04 million).

Since the establishment of Badir program in 2012, individual investors have the biggest stake in Badir incubated startups in the innovation and modern technology field at SR52.511 million ($14,002 million) through 11 funding deals, while the funding by venture capital firms amounted to SR47.630 million ($12,701 million) through 8 funding deals.

Badir report has shown that the funding of the private sector companies reached to SR30 million ($8 million) approximately through 6 funding deals, while funding by the governmental institutions shelled out about SR7.057 million ($1,881 million) through 26 funding deals, while the volume of loans does not exceed SR1.50 million ($400.00).

Commenting on the successful funding of the Saudi startups of Badir Program for Technology Incubators, CEO Nawaf Al Sahhaf said that disclosing the startups’ funding deals will contribute to raising awareness and transparency within the funding environment in the local market, especially with the remaining funding gap that hinders emerging companies from turning into businesses capable of attracting investments.

“We expect a rise in the average of establishing and funding this type of companies in the coming years, especially following the new investment strategy for the Program, which will be seeking to invest in “high potential” technology start-ups with a focus on the program's incubated or graduated companies,” Al Sahhaf added.

The new investment strategy aims to bridge the funding gap that hinders emerging companies from turning into businesses capable of attracting investments.

Badir Program will have a dual investment strategy — funding start-up companies in the incorporation phase; and incubated & graduated companies in the growth phase. Also, the Program will continue to support the start-up ecosystem and look for opportunities in technology innovation that match program portfolio requirements and are in line with its new strategic objectives.

Badir Program is one of the leading programs of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. The program was established in 2007 to improve and support technical entrepreneurship throughout the Kingdom by helping the strategic policy applied in entrepreneurship and incubators in collaboration with government agencies, universities and the private sector.