Saudi Arabia’s Voluntary Carbon Market Fuels the Shift to a Low-Carbon
Under UAE President’s directives, UAE launches urgent relief response for Ghana flood victims
Combating Desertification and Drought: Qatar a Model in Preserving Natural Resources, Establishing Environmental Stability
UAE allocates US$30 million for emergency humanitarian response in El Obeid, calls for civilian protection, safe humanitarian aid access in Sudan
Amman, July 11 (Petra) – The Jordan Entrepreneurship Fund (JEF) on
Saturday signed a strategic partnership agreement with Saudi
Technology Ventures (STV), aimed at empowering the startup ecosystem
specializing in artificial intelligence technologies and supporting
their growth and expansion in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
region.
It was inked by JEF CEO Mohammad Al-Muhtaseb and STV founder and CEO
Abdulrahman Trabzouni, in the presence of entrepreneurs and
representatives of investment funds in the Jordanian entrepreneurship
and technology sector.
The partnership gives entrepreneurs and startups in Jordan a
significant strategic advantage by leveraging the support and
expertise of STV, one of the largest independent venture capital
platforms in the region, with a capital of $100 million (backed by
Google), JEF said in a statement.
JEF will focus investment efforts on generative and applied AI,
targeting companies that provide innovative software and operational
solutions serving various institutions and sectors, it added.
JEF will invest $5 million in STV, which has announced its commitment
to investing in Jordanian startups that will establish a partnership
leading to the creation of an AI corridor linking Jordan and Saudi
Arabia, leveraging STV’s AI expertise, its network of relationships,
and its direct practical support.
The Jordanian fund confidently enters the second phase of its
operations in Jordan with this new investment and partnership with
STV, one of the region’s leading venture capital funds, given its
specialization in investing in cutting-edge technologies and AI,
which is experiencing significant global momentum, said Al-Muhtaseb.
In light of the structural transformations in global venture capital
markets, JEF is keen to redefine its role as a driver of the
innovation economy through strategic regional partnerships, he
pledged.
“Our partnership today with STV, which is backed by Google, promotes
an integration of the business environment between Amman and Riyadh,”
he added.
“Such collaboration will directly help to localize AI technology, and
is an added value to our entrepreneurial ecosystem, enabling our
promising companies to benefit from an international network of
relationships and advanced incubators that will propel them towards
new horizons of growth,” Al-Mohtaseb said.
For his part, Trabzouni said STV believes that AI is not just a
passing technological trend, but the infrastructure and primary
driver of the future economy.
Investment with the Jordanian fund, he pointed out, reflects a shared
vision of integrating exceptional energies and competencies, as both
parties will work to turn entrepreneurial ideas from Saudi Arabia and
Jordan into giant technological entities capable of competing
regionally and globally.
The new partnership is expected to offer significant opportunities
for Jordanian startups in the region, as well as leverage STV’s
collective technical expertise to adopt and utilize AI effectively.
It is particularly relevant, given the Saudi Fund’s clear strategy,
which is based on the conviction that long-term value in the AI age
is no longer tied to building basic language models, but rather to
companies that develop applications based on exclusive enterprise
data, and offer direct operational solutions to business needs.
The strategy aims to capitalize on opportunities in the AI
applications market, which is expected to continue growing in
coming years, driven by a growing reliance of organizations on smart
solutions to boost productivity and improve operational efficiency.
//Petra//SS