STV, the venture capital investor that backed a Dubai ride-hailing firm before its sale to Uber Technologies, is considering raising a second fund of at least $500 million.
“I definitely see a path to a second fund that is equal or larger to the $500 million fund we have today,” said chief executive officer Abdulrahman Tarabzouni.
Interest in Middle East technology start-ups has been rising. Uber bought Careem Networks in March for $3.1 billion, while Amazon.com purchased Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com in 2017.
STV expects venture capital investments in Saudi Arabia alone to grow tenfold by 2025, according to a report Wednesday.
STV started operations in 2017 with funding from Saudi Telecom, and ex-Google executive Tarabzouni left Silicon Valley to run it. It has already backed companies including e-commerce firm Mrsool and education app Noon Academy.
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