Riyadh Valley Company, the investment arm of King Saud University, has partnered with venture capital firm SparkLabs to launch the King Saud University Venture Fund.
The fund has been established alongside a startup accelerator, which will put startups through a four-month programme and offer funding of up to $300,000.
Both the fund and accelerator will be managed by SparkLabs, which runs similar accelerator programmes in South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and the US.
The fund will focus on early-stage spinouts and startups founded by university faculty and students.
It will also back companies that are looking to tap into the university’s research and innovation infrastructure. However, it was not immediately obvious from a press release whether such companies would have to be based in Saudi Arabia to be eligible.
The fund and accelerator have been set up to strengthen the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, bolster startups’ investment readiness, and build the capabilities of university-based entrepreneurs, according to Khalid bin Saad Al-Saleh, CEO of Riyadh Valley Company.
The fund is also expected to enhance the university’s national leadership role in innovation and technology.
Riyadh Valley Company is already an LP in more than a dozen venture capital funds, raised by firms such as Epidarex Capital, and currently holds investments in about half a dozen companies.
