Leading U.S.-based venture capitalist Tim Draper has signed an MOU with the Saudi Venture Capital Company to launch a joint investment fund in Saudi Arabia that will focus on investments in agriculture, health, education, finance, and energy.
With the goal of encouraging Saudi entrepreneurs to expand into new fields, the fund will be established under the patronage of the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monsha’at), which works to provide international expertise to SMEs as part of its goal to increase the kingdom’s GDP by 35 percent by 2030.
Although advances in technology resulted in an increase in food production in the MENA region in the 1990s, the region is still expected to see a food deficit of between 50 million tons and 90 million tons by 2020. And although the Saudi economy has long been driven by oil, the kingdom is aware that the world’s fuel markets are shifting, and so must its focus.
Therefore, access to venture capital through funds such as this can play a critical and dual role within the kingdom – to further advance food security, and to diversify its economy.
Draper is a well-known figure in venture capital, having created Draper Ventures Network, DFJ and Draper Associates – which led a $3.5 million Seed Round for cellular aquaculture startup Finless Foods in June of this year.
Launched through the IndieBio accelerator in 2017, Finless Foods became the first cellular aquaculture company to create the first fish cakes to ever be eaten (video). It went on to secure backing from Hatch, the first aquaculture-focused accelerator in the world, launched at the turn of 2018 in Bergen Norway by Dr. Carsten Krome of Alimentos Ventures.
“The ‘what if it works’ for Finless is enormous: on the health front, they’re creating a cleaner fish product without the growing plastic and mercury content; on the access front, that fish’s availability won’t be restricted to coastal areas; and on the environment front, they have the potential to reduce or eliminate the worldwide problem of overfishing,” said Billy Draper, Draper Associates, at the time.
-Lynda Kiernan