Saudi Arabia's state fund SVC strikes an LP bet

The Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC), the Riyadh-based state investment vehicle established with $1 billion in assets under management in 2018, has made a limited partner (LP) commitment to Seedra Ventures Fund II, the second vehicle managed by Riyadh-headquartered Seedra Ventures. The size of the fund’s corpus was not disclosed, but Seedra confirmed the close attracted strong demand and was oversubscribed.

“SVC’s investment, alongside the strong demand that resulted in Fund II being oversubscribed, reinforces our conviction in the market and our ability to identify exceptional entrepreneurs early in their journey,” said Haitham Alforaih, managing partner of Seedra Ventures. “Through Fund II, we will partner with founders as they scale [up] their businesses by providing capital, expertise and strategic access to our network, while maintaining a disciplined approach to delivering attractive long-term returns for our investors.”

Fund strategy and local focus

Seedra Ventures follows a sector-agnostic approach focused on technology and tech-enabled startups, with particular interest in companies operating in artificial intelligence, finTech and proptech. The firm primarily targets early-stage and high-growth startups from pre-Seed up to Series A stages. Seedra’s Fund II had its first close in the second quarter of 2024 and had previously added the PIF-owned Jada Fund-of-Funds as an LP in 2024.

Nora M. Alsarhan, CEO of SVC, framed the commitment as strategic for the development of specialised early-stage capital in Saudi Arabia. “Early-stage venture capital investment is where Saudi Arabia’s founders meet their first institutional partners, and the depth of that segment shapes what follows,” Alsarhan said. “Our investment in SEEDRA Ventures Fund II supports a manager focussed squarely on backing Saudi technology founders at that critical stage, expanding the specialised capital available to them and reinforcing the private-sector engine of Vision 2030.”

Seedra’s portfolio and prior LPs

• Seedra’s existing portfolio includes ZenHR (cloud HRMS), Classera (edtech), Lucidya (B2B SaaS), DailyMealz (food delivery), Noon Academy (social e-learning), Wakecap (construction tech) and Sabbar (on-demand staffing).
• Seedra Fund II recorded a first close in Q2 2024 and had previously secured Jada Fund-of-Funds as a sovereign LP in 2024.

The investment by SVC follows a pattern of the state vehicle expanding its allocation to venture and private markets. In November 2025, SVC announced joint investments totalling SAR1 billion (about $266 million) across 17 venture capital, private equity and private debt funds managed by 11 American managers. Earlier, in January 2025, SVC signed on as an LP in Dubai-headquartered Global Ventures’ third investment vehicle.

Outlook

With SVC’s backing, Seedra Ventures Fund II aims to deepen its footprint in Saudi Arabia’s early-stage ecosystem by providing both capital and strategic support to founders scaling from pre-Seed through Series A. For Seedra, the combination of sovereign LP commitment and oversubscription signals investor confidence in its selection strategy and network. For founders, the fund’s emphasis on AI, finTech and proptech sectors could channel more specialised capital and operational support at the critical early stages of growth.