Another piece of good news for Arab entrepreneurs:
, one of the region's better VC funds.
Riyada has invested in some pretty cool regional startups, including
(which runs the MedieME website among others), the tech/media research house
, and
, a pretty interesting software company specialised in security for flash applications.
Khaldoon Tabaza, an old hand in Jordan's startup community, will remain in charge of Riyada, which will have $200 million of new funding through Abraaj.
Mr Tabaza has been a part of some of the region's best known startups and funds, including Arabia Online (the first Arab dotcom), the Ideavelopers tech fund, ABAN and the iPark incubator in Amman.
Notably, as our story mentions
, the newly cash-rich Riyada will provide what the Abraaj CEO calls "patriotic capital," partnering with the entrepreneurship and SME development programs of regional governments.
That is a very smart move - governments across the region are realising that bankrolling entrepreneurs is a no-brainer, but most lack is the VC mindset (and skill set). If Abraaj / Riyada are clever, they can team up with the big government funds, access pools of money, make lots of money in the process, and maybe make the Middle East a better place to be a smart entrepreneur.
