LEAP 2024: Day 3 Highlights - Investments and Innovations

The events of the third day of the most attended technical conference in the world, LEAP 2024, ended after announcing several partnerships, agreements, new investment rounds, and funds.^[1]  

The events of the third day coincided with significant statements of the Minister of Communications and Information Technology during the government press conference, in which he stated that the kingdom is one of the 10 fastest countries in the world in terms of the speed and size of its achievements as a digital economy.

He added that its digital economy has grown by 10% since the launch of the Saudi Vision 2030.

After Revival Lab and Falak for Business and Investment announced the establishment and launch of the startup studio “Upturn Ventures” to support emerging technology companies in the e-commerce and supply chain sectors, Upturn Ventures announced its first investment in cooperation with Sanaya to invest in the Arzaq Plus company working in the field of supply, warehousing, and distribution.

Moyasar, which specializes in financial technology, announced the details of its first investment rounds, 8 years after its founding, amounting to SAR 78.75 million, and Impact46 Finance revealed its fund specializing in electronic games in partnership with the Social Development Bank and the National Development Fund, amounting to SAR 150 million.

As for partnerships for emerging companies, the financial technology company specializing in electronic payments, Beelink, announced a strategic partnership with Madad to cooperate in providing electronic payment services.

Meanwhile, PayTabs revealed the completion of connectivity to the main payment methods in Saudi Arabia through its platform, as it seeks to provide integrated payment processing services to government agencies, financial institutions, and financial technology companies.

Ebana Information Technology announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Edaa Company, the securities depository center affiliated with the Saudi Tadawul Group, with the aim of providing digital solutions to serve the Saudi financial market.

Saudi Aramco revealed its intention to cooperate with the American Groq to build the world's largest artificial intelligence computing center.

Aramco is also working on a joint project with LTIMindtree worth $45.8 million to establish an information technology services center and is cooperating with Intel to establish the first center for developing the open access radio network ORAN in Saudi Arabia.

For its part, Cyber Company announced a strategic cooperation with Thales Group to provide cybersecurity services and products to raise the level of security of industrial systems in the kingdom.

Furthermore, the Chinese company Honor announced the expansion of its business regionally by launching several initiatives with investments worth up to $100 million. Nokia revealed the establishment of a regional logistics center in Saudi Arabia and the second phase of the maintenance center in Riyadh, with a major expansion by adding fifth-generation technologies.

Meanwhile, ACES announced the injection of investments worth $618 million to expand its business and develop the infrastructure for many projects. It also launched a project to localize the private GSM software management system and smart towers.