Saudi Family Offices

A group of Saudi investors announced investing in Vertex ICO, a blockchain start-up.

Vertex is creating a market and a token that combines trading, venture capital experience, and fair-value based tokenization. Vertex also offers an aftermarket for ICOs, which will provide investors with opportunities to get returns and bring more fiat resources into cryptocurrency markets. (Among investors in the Vertex ICO you can find arab investors like Naif Al Rajhi, Abdullah Al Othaim, Bander Al Rajhi and Abdulaziz Bin Sultan). More details here.

To see a list of angel investors from Saudi Arabia similar to Abdullah Al Othaim, check the Middle East Investors Directory.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, founder of Kingdom Holding investment firm, bought 2.3% stake in American technology and camera company Snapchat for $250 million.

The shares was bought at around $11 each, below the $13.10 price shares closed at before earnings were released. Alwaleed and Kingdom holding has investment in other technology companies such as Lyft, JD.com and Twitter. (More details here)

Kingdom Holding is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code BFD84.

Saudi venture capital firm Raed Ventures and a consortium have invested $1.4 million in UAE online truck aggregator Trukker.

Founded in 2016, Trukker is deemed as the "UBER of trucks". They have a tech-enabled trucking network where their clients can make a booking using their website and mobile applications. The Dubai-based company is currently working on establishing their business in the Eastern and Western regions of Saudi Arabia. (Established in 2015 by Almajdouie Holding LLC, Raed Ventures specializes in investments like seed and early stage, prioritizing startups in the fintech sector in Saudi Arabia and MENA region.)

To see a list of investors from Saudia Arabia similar to Raed Ventures, check the Middle East Investors Directory.

Saudi angel Investor Ahmed Abdullah Bugshan, a board member of the Arabian Bugshan Group has invested $820,000 in blockchain startup ArabianChain

ArabianChain, a public blockchain in the Middle east, is founded by Mohammed Alsehli and Walid Messaoudi. It will have two distinct features: DBIX, a cryptocurrency in the region to enable payments and money transfer, and Thuraya, a soon-to-be launched smart contracts programming language in Arabic. (The investor, Ahmed Abdullah Bugshan, is a board member at the Arabian Bugshan Group with interests in construction, electrical, automobiles, cosmetics, real estate and more. He is also the CEO of the House of Invention International.)

To see a list of angel investors from Saudi Arabia similar to Eng. Ahmed Abdullah Bugshan, check the Middle East Investors Directory.

Sultan Mohamed Abuljadayel, a 42 years old Saudi national, has acquired stake in the famous British newspaper The Independent for a reported sum of $130 million.

Established in 1986, the Independent was controlled by Tony O'Reilly's Independent & Media from 1997 until Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev invested in it in 2010. Sultan Mohamed Abuljadayel, 42, listed in company records as a Saudi-based Saudi Arabian national and has acquired up to 50 percent of the Independent. According to Middle East Eye, a source with knowledge of the deal said the investment may be as much as $130 million.

To see listing and email addresses of investors from Saudi Arabia similar to Sultan Mohamed Abuljadayel, check the Middle East Investors Directory

More details follows:

Saudi investment firm Tamer Group and a consortium of investors have invested $162 million in Sigfox, a provider of connectivity for the Internet of Things.

Established in 2009, Sigfox builds wireless networks to connect low-energy objects such as electricity meters, smartwatches, and washing machines, which need to be continuously on and emitting small amounts of data. It currently has 10 million objects registered on its network and coverage currently spanning 26 countries. (Tamer Group is a healthcare, beauty care, and fast moving consumer goods company headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)

Tamer Group is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code SINO92.

More details follows:

Saudi investments firm F&C Overseas Investment and Al Sanie Group have invested $7 million in travel booking website HolidayMe.

Founded in 2014, HolidayMe customers can choose from 400 holiday packages to over 200 destinations. It has previously secured $4 million from Saudi investors of Al Sanie Group. Another investor in this round is Accel Partners, a Silicon Valley based venture capital firm, an early investor in Dropbox and Facebook.

To see a list of investment firms similar to Al Sanie Group check the latest edition of Middle East Investors Directory.

More details follows:

The National Geographic has an interesting article on how Saudi investors of Al Shiddi Group has funded the Sarajevo City Center, a 70,000-square-meter mall in Europe.

Opened in 2014, the Sarajevo City Center has a five-star hotel, commercial and office spaces and a shopping center in the Bosnian Capital. Al Shiddi Group was founded in 1975 and today it employs more than 1,000 employees all over Europe, Africa and Asia. Group conducts business in various fields, including construction, investments, real estate, agriculture and hotel industry.

Al Shiddi Group is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code SE812.

More details follows on National Geographic here.