The venture arm of PIF, Saudi Arabia’s $650 billion sovereign wealth fund, has ramped up its dealmaking in recent years, but the extent of its influence in Silicon Valley was a matter of speculation—until now.
Sanabil Investments, which commits around $2 billion annually in VC, growth and buyout investments, recently publicized firms to which it has committed, as well as direct investments, on its website. The disclosures, first reported by The Information, reveal a greater scope of participation by PIF’s venture arm in US startups and VCs than previously known.
The roster of firms spans dozens of US VC and PE investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, 500 Global, Coatue and KKR. The list of companies that Sanabil has backed includes e-scooter provider Bird, banking startup Varo and Oura, the maker of a wearable health-monitoring device.
The sudden burst of transparency follows a significant increase in startup investments by Sanabil in recent years. Founded in 2009, 22 of the wealth fund’s 38 previously known investments took place in 2022, according to PitchBook data.
A majority of the direct investments listed on Sanabil’s website did not have a previously known connection to the wealth fund’s growth investment arm. Those companies were ActionIQ, Bird, CallSign, EMA, Oura, Varo, Vectra AI, consultancy firm Richard Attias & Associates and VC firm NEA. When contacted by PitchBook, Varo declined to comment, and the others did not respond.
Some investors and founders sought to distance themselves from the Saudi royal family following the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Even so, Sanabil, and parent PIF, have increasingly flexed their muscles on the global venture landscape. Some VCs appear to be actively courting them, despite long-standing criticism of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.
In a Miami conference panel Friday, Andreessen Horowitz co-founder and general partner Ben Horowitz reportedly praised Saudi Arabia as a “startup country.”
Stefan Heller, co-founder and partner at AlphaQ Venture Capital, said he is hearing of a major increase in commitments across the board by sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East.
“I’ve met with [the state funds] multiple times and know them quite well,” Heller said. “They are very actively committing, especially last year.”
A period of record profits for oil and gas producers is likely to bolster the capital available to Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds at a time when other LPs are grappling with losses. On Monday, OPEC and its allies announced a decision to cut oil production.
PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan aims to grow the fund’s assets to $1 trillion by 2025.
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