Alibaba, PIF-backed fund to raise $1bn for tech deals

A venture capital fund that’s backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and China’s Alibaba Group is close to raising $1bn to back technology startups in Asia and the Middle East.

“Saudi has a very big market and China has Internet and technology companies that are preparing to expand globally, so one hand has the market, and the other hand has the technology,” eWTP Arabia Capital founding partner Jerry Li said in an interview in Riyadh.

Founded in 2019, the fund raised $400m for deals that year. It has already invested in 16 companies and plans to list three of them on the Saudi stock exchange and two in the US next year, Li said.

Both the PIF, as the Saudi wealth fund is known, and Alibaba will remain major contributors in the second funding round along with other international investors, he said.

The PIF has been plowing money into tech firms and startups as it seeks to build a venture capital industry and encourage young entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses to diversify the economy and create jobs. It created a $1bn fund of funds for venture capital firms, and also invests directly through its subsidiary, Sanabil.

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